medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
My local paper the "Brentford , Chiswick and Isleworth Times" had this story
under its main headline today. Thought it might be of interest !
Tim
Lost abbey unearthed in Syon park
AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL
excavation has unearthed a huge lost abbey that was host to King Henry
VIII's
coffin within the grounds of Brentford's Syon Park.
The three day excavation programme, which finished on Thursday May 8th was
carried out by a team of archaeological experts together with Channel Four's
'Time Team'
, in an area adjacent to Syon House, to search for the original foundations
of the lost
Bridgettine Abbey. The team uncovered the foundation walls that prove Syon
House is built on the site of the lost abbey, which was dissolved by Henry
VIII in 1539. Archaeological data unearthed during the search suggests that
the structure. was of a huge scale - between the size of Kings College
Chapel, in Cambridge and Salisbury Cathedral.
A spokesman for the Duke of Northumberland, whose London home is Syon Park,
said that the estate was taking advice over further
excavations, adding ;" We are still trying to take this all in, but are keen
to establish
the exact layout of the Abbey.We believe that this
will be of great interest to the local area, and especially to historians."
The location of the church, which was consecrated in 1488, had been a
mystery, but a
geophysical survey revealed possible lines of foundations and it was in the
area adjacent to the present house, where the excavation took place. While
no plans survived of the abbey buildings or of their layout, it was the
quadrangular shape of Syon House, with its central
courtyard which gave the archaeologists, who were led by Tony Robinson, the
theory that it formed the nun's cloister. The main visible evidence of the
abbey is a vaulted undercroft below the Great Hall.
Time Team researcher,Oliver Twinch, told the Times: ---This is the most
interesting of all the finds in the whole series - it is a jewel of medieval
architecture."
King Henry VIR's coffin was brought to the abbey on its
way to Windsor for burial but it burst open during the night and in the
morning dogs were found licking up the remains. This was regarded at the
time as a divine retribution for the King's desecration of the abbey.
The Abbey took its name from Mount Zion in the Holy Land and was the only
Bridgettine house in England in the 15th Century.
The order was unusual in that it accommodated separate communities of men
and women, each requiring entirely independent quarters for living and
prayer. It was a large community of sixty sisters in one community and 13
priests, four Deacons and eight lay brothers in the other.
The Duke said he was very excited- by the events of the week. The program
shows in the new year.
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