COMMUNITY ARCHAEOLOGY

Interim Report on Archaeological Evaluation of the Rose Garden

and Watching Brief on Two Tree Pits on the Lawn, Rufford Abbey,
Nottinghamshire, 2008

NCA-047
David Budge and Ursilla Spence

Contents

1.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
5.0
6.0

List of figures
Background to the Excavations
Location of Works
Results
Preliminary Conclusions
Further Work
Images

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List of figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9

Plan of Rose Garden trenches

Position of tree pits on Abbey Lawn
General view of Trench 1
General view of work starting on Abbey Lawn
Trench 1 showing shallow feature1
Brick lined gully in Trench 2
Trench 4
Tree pit 1
Tree pit 2, showing asphalt spread beneath topsoil

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1.0 Background to the Excavations

Rufford Abbey is a Scheduled Ancient Monument (NT320384) consisting of the
above and below ground remains of the Medieval Cistercian Abbey plus the remains
of the post Medieval to modern country house which replaced it post-Dissolution.
The buildings and grounds are owned by Nottinghamshire County Council, with the
Abbey remains in English Heritage guardianship. The site is managed by NCC as a
country park.
The Rose Garden is located west of the standing buildings and north of the stable
block, partially within the scheduled area. Archaeological evaluation was undertaken
to determine the potential of the area in order to determine the depth at which
archaeological deposits would be encountered and to inform plans for the areas
proposed redesign and refurbishment. Four trenches were excavated here between
14th and 23rd of April, 2008. Two were within the scheduled area. The trenches were
excavated by hand by Andy Gaunt, Emily Gillott, Ali Bush and David Budge, all of
Nottinghamshire County Council Archaeology Section.
In addition, two 1x1m tree pits were dug on the Abbey Lawn, to the north of the
abbey buildings, in order to plant replacements for two existing dying trees. Both
were in the Scheduled area. These pits, referred to in the report as test pits, were
hand dug by members of the NCC arboriculture team under the supervision of David
Budge on 16th of April.
The works in the scheduled areas were covered by Scheduled Monument Consent.
The project was managed overall by Ursilla Spence.

2.0 Location of Works

Fig 1. Plan of Rose Garden trenches

Fig 2. Position of tree pits on Abbey Lawn.

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3.0 Results
The trenches in the rose garden demonstrated that archaeological features survive
just under the modern ground surface despite having been truncated during
demolition of the house and damaged by gardening activity. The features recorded
include a post-Medieval brick lined gully, undated but probably post-Medieval post
holes, an undated but probably post-Medieval soak-away and a large, shallow,
Medieval or post-Medieval pit of uncertain function.
The test pits revealed that what appeared to be a levelling layer, probably dating
from the early modern period. In both pits, the levelling material used incorporated
much ceramic building material including plain mosaic-type Medieval floor tiles along
with a variety of roofing and floor tiles of Medieval through to post Medieval date.
Also recovered from this deposit was a piece of fired clay with thick green glaze
almost certainly from the base of a kiln, suggesting the presence of a kiln producing
lead glazed wares in the vicinity. This is possibly the same kiln whose presence was
previously identified by the NCC Archaeology team while observing works to repair
mining subsidence along the Rainworth Water (Notts HER L5517) in the 1980s.
In one pit this CBM rich deposit was overlain by a thin spread of material, which gave
the appearance of much decayed asphalt. This test pit corresponds with the course
of a horse-shoe shaped path shown on Sandersons map of 1835, and also visible
on the 2006 geophysical investigation (Masters & Bunn, 2006). The asphalt may
represent the remains of a later resurfacing of this path, or possibly even an early
use of the material (asphalt came into use in England as a surfacing material in the
early 19th C; a patent for its use as such was registered in 1837).

4.0 Preliminary Conclusions

The lack of clearly Medieval features in the area of the rose garden is a little
surprising, although it is entirely possible that the excavations were simply not deep
enough to reach the appropriate levels. Natural was not seen in any of the
excavations, and the areas sampled by this limited investigation have clearly seen
considerable landscaping efforts to alter and raise ground levels, presumably as part
of the post-Medieval landscaping works. Nor was there any sign on the Abbey lawn
of the extensive parterres known from documentary sources, but this may simply be
a reflection of the limited scope of the two tree pits.

5.0 Further Work

Preparation of the full report is in progress but subject to specialist reporting on the
ceramic material. This work is part of a comprehensive re-visiting of all the ceramic
material recovered from the site by the NCC archaeology team over 30+ years.

6.0 Images

Fig 3. General view of Trench 1

Fig 4. General view of work starting on Abbey Lawn

Fig 5. Trench 1 showing shallow feature

Fig 6. Brick lined gully in Trench 2

Fig 7. Trench 4

Fig 8. Tree pit 1

Fig 9. Tree pit 2, showing asphalt spread beneath topsoil.