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Welcome to the Thornton Abbey Project website.
On this website, you can find results, pictures and information about the ongoing excavation and survey project at Thornton Abbey, North Lincolnshire, run by the Department of Archaeology at the University of Sheffield. |
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2013 EXCAVATION
Places for 2013's excavation season are now available!
Only three months until the season begins!
This year we will be focusing our efforts in two main areas: the high status medieval abbot's lodging, and a large mound near to the gatehouse, possibly the location of a 17th-century manor house.
Thornton Abbey
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The site of Thornton abbey, located in north Lincolnshire, contains a fascinating and little understood history.
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The Augustinian priory founded here in 1139 was once one of the richest houses in England. After the dissolution, the land was eventually acquired in 1603 by Sir Vincent Skinner. He demolished many of the church buildings and constructed a new mansion situated near to the still-standing medieval gatehouse. Unfortunately, this mansion reportedly collapsed shortly after its completion, and further, smaller conversions and temporary structures appeared and disappeared on the land over the next 400 years.
Despite having one of the largest and best preserved monastic enclosures in the country, enclosing approximately 29 hectares, relatively little work has taken place at Thornton Abbey. Over the next few years, staff and students from the Department of Archaeology at the University of Sheffield will be building on recent past work, with geophysical and topographic survey leading to the targeted excavation of identified features. In this way, we hope to unravel more about the site’s complicated but interesting past.
