Excavation

Date 9 February 1996 - 9 December 1996

Event ID 546289

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/546289

NT 5486 3417 A large-scale area excavation was undertaken by Kirkdale Archaeology during August and September 1996 to define the area and extent of the chapter house, to the N of the N transept and sacristy. Previous excavation in the 1920s had uncovered elements of masonry foundations belonging to the E range, in which the chapter house was located, and a geophysical survey had revealed possible wall lines beneath the presently grassed area. The excavation revealed a sequence of three successive chapter houses, from the initial 12th-century example, through a 13th-century rebuilding and culminating in the 14th-century building. The latter two saw the extension of the chapter house eastwards, whereas the initial chapter house probably sat within the E range, and extended no further E than the E edge of the N transept of the 12th-century church.

Rebuilding work within the church nave in 1610 may have seen the total clearance of the chapter house remains, since very little masonry evidence was recorded. This is also due, in part, to the lack of deep foundations ? the chapter house was founded on a level platform of redeposited river clay, on shallow founds. Further, the presence of a series of modern land drains had disturbed and truncated the monastic remains considerably. Due to the extreme lack of masonry evidence, the successive plans of the chapter house were defined by the remains of floor deposits and masonry pillar bases, alongside eaves-drip drains to the exterior of the later two buildings. Evidence for an elaborate tiled floor was recovered, and it would appear that the latter two chapter houses were both furnished with such a floor. Tentative evidence for the form and dimensions of the decorated tiled floor relating to the third and final chapter house was also revealed.

In addition, a number of graves were uncovered, relating to all three of the chapter houses. The sequence of burials and floor levels was extremely difficult to perceive, not least due to the fact that later graves had been interred over the robbed-out remains of earlier inhumations. The Chronica de Mailros reveals that a number of burials were relocated from the W to the E end of the chapter house in 1240. Most of the graves had been disturbed, either by the 1921 excavation or previously, and the human remains were poorly preserved. No skeletal material was removed.

Of much public interest (but of less archaeological significance) was the find of a lead cylinder, containing a medieval, cone-shaped lead casket. Originally uncovered in 1921, this was thought to be the casket containing the heart of King Robert I, whose dying wish was that his heart be taken on Crusade, and thence returned to Scotland, to be buried at Melrose. It is likely that the heart was moved from a more suitable location (at the high altar) to the chapter house during the substantial rebuilding works of the 14th century.