Monument record LCS 176 - OUTLINE RECORD: LEISTON ABBEY COMMUNITY Evaluation 2013 (DIGVENTURES)

A crowdfunded community-based survey and field evaluation focussed on three defined areas at Leiston Abbey, aiming to contribute to the future management and presentation of the Site, and make recommendations for further work.
The main focus of the investigation was on the unscheduled area to the north west of the surviving monastic complex, with four small evaluation trenches preceded by a geophysical and topographic survey. Two ditches, and a small number of discrete posthole features were identified in this area, potentially relating to an earlier, Prehistoric phase of activity. The numerous banks and channels visible as upstanding earthworks in this area are likely to relate to the monastic phase of the site. A lidar survey has demonstrated how these earthworks helped to direct water away from the Abbey buildings to avoid flooding or towards industrial activities that potentially took place further downslope.
This was supplemented with a non-invasive survey and small-scale interventions at the edge and inside the scheduled area, aiming to identify missing monastic buildings (such as the precinct wall and gatehouse), and an earlier phase of settlement presumed to predate the abbey construction in the 14th century. Substantial extant drainage ditches, interpreted as the remnants of a moated settlement site, represent this earlier phase of activity. A trench was targeted across one of these features, which proved to be substantially deeper than previously considered. This was consistent with its interpretation as a moated feature, although logistical constraints meant that it was not possible to reach basal sediments or recover dating evidence.
Two further trenches were excavated inside the scheduled area, one in the car park to the north of the main claustral complex, and one to the south. Both trenches were targeted on the basis of non-invasive survey results, including magnetometry, resistance and ground penetrating radar, to help determine the function of any potential sub-surface building remains. The shallow foundations for a small circular structure were identified in the car park trench, associated with a cobbled surface and early modern artefacts dating to the later agricultural phase of the site.
The final trench was positioned to the south of the main monastic complex, where geophysical results had indicated a substantial quantity of building rubble and potential wall foundations. The upper layers of his trench comprised 19th and 20thcentury rubble and levelling deposits associated with adjacent allotments and the later agricultural phase of the site. Below this in the monastic levels, a small quantity of late medieval pottery and painted window glass was recovered. Of what little was visible of the original structure of the building, it was not possible to determine its function, but its location in relation to other upstanding buildings suggests that it was likely to be the kitchen
Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2013 (S1)