Beaubec Excavations

The sun once again split the stones and the hard work in the heat was punctuated by a large number of distinguished visitors. The kiln was all but removed as the day progressed at the west end of the excavation, while elsewhere, some cuttings may be down to undisturbed boulder clay. It is a wonderful thing that so many people are willing to donate their time and expertise to our search for the medieval grange of de Bello Becco. Experts in castles, pottery, engineering, 3D rendering, drone photography, environmental history, agriculture, local history, etc., etc. make everyday a learning opportunity.

The kiln experts gather … Billy Sines (second from right, Archaeological Consultancy Services Unit) heard that his kiln was being dismantled and he had to come to take one last look (photo by Grace McCullen).

Mick shows his 3d modelling of the kiln to Billy (Archaeological Consultancy Services Unit) (photo by Grace McCullen).

Deirdre is collating all the finds from the three seasons at Beaubec. Wes, official finds room mascot, is asleep in the sun at the right of the photo (photo by Grace McCullen).

Muireann (left) lends a helping hand to environmentalist Penny Johnston. Here the are seen examining soil samples (photo by Grace McCullen).

Caitríona is always hard at work but because she is so busy cataloguing finds in the finds room, she is rarely pictured in blog photos (photo by Grace McCullen).

Pottery expert Rosanne Meenan has joined us for the last two weeks of the excavation.

Elliot delivers finds up to the office.

Day 13 – A busy morning on the site (photo Mick Mongey).

This stunning photograph demonstrate the close relationship between Beaubec and the sea (photo by Anthony Murphy).

Distinguished visitors to the site this day included (from left) our host John McCullen, Matthew, Seán Collins, Martin and photographer Jimmy Weldon.

Renowned Drogheda photographer Jimmy Weldon is never in his own photographs.

Dermot McCullen and family with former Chief Archaeologist and castle expert David Sweetman.

With co-director Geraldine Stout (right) are Kathleen, Barbara and Mary Quinlan. Kathleen wanted to see what working on an excavation was like. Visitors Barbara and Mary brought strawberries and some lovely cakes.

Cistercians received one loaf of bread a day, so it is possible to estimate the size of the monastic community by the number of loaves that could fit in the bread oven. With these clay ‘loaves’ made by Eamonn, we now calculate that their were 45 cistercians present at Beaubec.

The excavation at the end of Day 13 (Drone photo by Anthony Murphy).

JPEG version of Mick Mongey’s 3D rendering of the kiln. Do to this advanced technology, the kiln will live on long after it has be excavated away.

The Kiln has been such a constant presence on the site that it seems peculiar to see it gradually disappear. But we must dig it to understand it. John Sunderland is the ‘cereal kilner’. Penny Johnson is on her 99th environmental sample at Beaubec. Go Penny! Bronagh and Oliver were finding lots of animal bones in Cutting V11 and Daniel was finding large bones in his cutting in a very organic deposit that has huge potential. These faunal remains will tell a lot about the farm stock on the grange. Fay and Tara were doing a great job sieving medieval deposits and finds today included a bronze leather covered button and a ceramic ridge tile. We are intrigued by a flagstone surface attached to a hearth which has been uncovered in the middle of the barn.

View of the kiln being partially removed

Tara and Fay found a bronze button with a leather cover.

Detail of the button.

John McCullen examines the jaw bone discovered by Oliver and Bronagh.

Elizabeth shows her perspective reconstructions of the Beaubec buildings to Geraldine (photo by Grace McCullen).

Emer Clowry (of the Notre Dame Global Gateway) with Kevin and their two sons Rían and Jonah (photo by Grace McCullen). Notre Dame has been a generous supporter of the Stout’s excavations since 2002 – Knowth Site M, Bective, Newgrange Farm and now Beaubec.

The excavation at the end of day 12. Note the disappearing kiln (left) and the paved floor (centre) (drone photo by Anthony Murphy).

We were delighted to welcome Elizabeth Gardener, Engineer, University of Notre Dame, to the site. She will be here for two weeks and will be studying our upstanding remains. Bernie and Alex, the dynamic duo, have been following what may turn out to be another drain running under the southern section of medieval wall. Meanwhile, Craig and Andy are also coming down on possible drain fill. The lower sections of the kiln is being exposed and a sequence of rebuilding is becoming more apparent. Anthony has been excavating the sides of the lintelled drain and is finding lots of flint waste.

Elizabeth working in Cutting V11

Alex and Bernie still standing after a day in Cutting V7.

Detail of the possible drain running under the wall

Side view of the kiln (and of Áine digging the kiln).

Anthony is shown here examining the interface between the wall and the drain in Cutting V10 (photo Mick Mongey).

Geraldine (centre) explains the intricacies of the ‘Great Barn of Beaubec’ to Elizabeth. Stefán and Matthew are in the foreground toiling (photo by Mick Mongey).

The excavation at the end of Day 11 (drone photo by Anthony Murphy).

Over the last two weeks as we have peeled back the centuries at Bey More, a great Cistercian barn is emerging from the earth. The walls of this massive building are visible now in almost every cutting. Environmental sampling is identifying rich concentrations of grain, peas and beans that may have been stored there. We will now search out structural evidence such as post holes, stone settings, internal divisions; settings are already appearing in the middle of this building. Great Stone Barns are the most prominent farm building in Cistercian granges in England but are much rarer in Ireland. In 1228 Stephen of Lexington wrote to the Cistercians in Jerpoint Abbey, Co. Kilkenny, advising them that barns and animal sheds were to be the only buildings, erected along the margins of their granges. There is a long collapsed barn in the grange at Ballinlig in Sligo associated with Boyle Abbey. Another stone barn has been identified on the Cistercian grange at Annamult in Co. Kilkenny. We also uncovered the remains of a barn with a kiln in Bective Abbey. The relative scarcity of these barns in Ireland highlight the huge significance of what we are finding at Beaubec this season.

Oliver, a volunteer, and his family from the Czech Republic paid a visit today.

John lead us on a tour of his farm buildings and fields. It was ‘outstanding’ (photos by Mick Mongey, top, and Grace McCullen).

Matt and Stefán in Cutting V9. They are taking off the top soil but if you look at the drone photo you will see that the wall is gradually emerging.

Mikela in cutting V5. The wall is fully exposed and medieval layers have been reached in the northern part of the cutting. Oliver (left) is usually found in Cutting V11.

Maurice and Daniel in Cutting V7. The north-eastern edge of the wall was hard to find, but they found it.

Sieving for the day was focussed on the medieval layers in Cutting V11. Sievers were (from left) Alex, Tara and Eamonn.

On his own in Cutting V8 is Mick Mongey. Although he has had some assistance, Mick has doggedly and often single-handedly removed the upper layers from the cutting.

The team in Cutting V4 (John, Tom and Catherine) examine the kiln.

Mary and Molly examine the medieval layers in Cutting V11. They are often joined by Bronagh and Oliver.

Leslie and Liam from DCU show true grit and have now removed all the post-medieval material from Cutting V12.

Cutting V10 with Anthony, Áine and Aidan. No coins today but they made a lot of progress.

Post pad (?) in cutting V10.

Tara assisted Catriona Devane with the processing of the finds today (photo by Grace McCullen).

Geraldine and Craig are discussing the complexities of Cutting V6 (and their hats).

The excavation at the start of day 10 (top) and at the end of day 10 (drone photos by Anthony Murphy).

Aidan Giblin caused pandemonium on the site this afternoon when he discovered a medieval coin in the side of the lintelled drain and we all rushed to his cutting to examine and photograph it. Through the day Catherine did a beautiful job emptying out a pit that produced large quantities of wheat grains when a sample was processed by Penny. Tom was in splendid isolation for the day excavating the interior of the kiln. Eamon and Tara started up the sieve to process medieval deposits from a possible drain. Lily came down to the site with scrumptious chocolate crispy buns for all the team. During the day Caroline arrived on the site with her son and his friends who de-sodded a new cutting near the service tower.

Carol and her gang volunteered for the day.

Lily made some delicious chocolate crispy buns with marshmallows for the team and they were yummy.

Aidan Giblin points out where he found the medieval coin.

Mick certainly did his homework and provisionally identified the coin as a groat (4 pennies) or 1/2 groat dating from the reign of Edward III c.1360. It was minted in London.

Catherine did a beautiful job emptying out a pit that produced large quantities of wheat grain.

Tom has been excavating the interior of the kiln (photo by Grace McCullen)

John McCullen discussing farm drains.

Activity at the western end of the excavations (photo by Mick Mongey).

Anelia carrying the finds up to the finds room at the end of the day (photo Grace McCullen).

Ciara Reynolds (second from left) took a day away from her work to volunteer on the site. She did a wonderful job straightening sections in advance of their being recorded by Matt.

Pat McCullen (with grandsons, Reuben & Jacob) meet the water delivery team bringing much needed water to the site (photo by Grace McCullen).

Sean and Gerard were ‘Age Friendly University’ students with Matthew Stout at DCU. Here they are seen removing the upper layers of Cutting V8.

A selfie of co-directors Geraldine and Matthew in their new hats.

Touching time by John Sunderland

One of the artworks I have been making over the last fortnight is a drawing using mud, pencil, charcoal and white oil pastel on drafting paper. This landscape work has been photographed as it progresses – the final works from this piece are intended to be photographs of the drawing because what interests me is the processes of change in this work, both those I make and the changes that occur naturally such as wetting and drying. For the first time today I sprayed the drawing with a fine water mist, photographing it before and then sequentially as it dried. I was amazed at how the differential drying process changed the emphasis on the different layers in the image. It appears to reflect the way that features are more or less visible in different conditions in the ground. The changes are drastic, some soils (each one is from a feature or layer on the site) are barely visible in some states and clear as day in others. I have always been interested in how landscapes change and am excited to find quite a direct way of interpreting this in this artwork.

The spotlight shifted to the far end of the site today to the cuttings near the service tower. Heroic removal of a difficult stony layer has uncovered a dark loamy layer rich in shells, large burnt bones and medieval pottery. This is medieval waste. Kieran Campbell has identified the pottery as local Drogheda ware dating from the thirteenth century. Leslie Thornton, who has a particular interest in animal remains, uncovered a cache of animal jaws that will be sent as part of the Beaubec assemblage to Dr Fiona Beglane in Sligo IT for identification. Mary Sherlock and her team that includes Oliver, Bronagh and Eamon have unearthed the strap-handles of wine jugs and large burnt animal joints coming from the fill of a drain. We were delighted to welcome Seamus Bellew of the County Louth Archaeological and Historical Society to the site and the Sweetman family from Annesbrook who are old friends of the directors . We cannot wait for tomorrow to see what new evidence will emerge from the site.

Before and after photos of todays excavation. The sods were stripped in Cutting V8 and Mick can be seen in this photo still working at the end of the day, almost down to Medieval layers. Áine helped him remove the sod and difficult stone layers. The wall is emerging in V6.

Bronagh, Eamonn and Oliver (left to right) display the finds discovered in the course of the day (photo by Mary Sherlock who keeps a close eye on all activities in cutting V11).

Mary Sherlock with her freshly discovered medieval strap handle.

Kieran Campbell and Seamus Bellew visited the site in the afternoon. We are grateful to Kieran for identifying some of the more unusual pottery types.

Sadhbh and Kate (right) with co-director Matthew. Sadhbh worked at Beaubec in 2019 and Kate has always been a great supporter of our excavations.

Today was a beautiful day on the excavation and all was ordered like a well-oiled machine. Three cuttings have made it down to the medieval layers with some exotic medieval pots coming to light. Other cuttings are not far behind. News came today from our publicist Grace McCullen that the Drogheda Independent had published an article about the site. She has big plans to get the message out about Beaubec. Lessons on dowsing were provided by Áine, searching out moats and waterways. Mick Mongey was all business today, undertaking a photogrammetric survey of the service tower.

The cuttings at the end of Day 7 (Drone photo by Anthony Murphy).

On Monday, Day 6, these distinctive orange-glazed sherds emerged from the lower post-medieval layers. Could it be from a candlestick holder? Any suggestions (Photo: Mick Mongey).

Great excitement accompanied the discovery of a thin-walled medieval pot.

The pot’s full profile is now visible.

A stunning close-up of the pot by John Sunderland.

Anthony and Aidan are hard at work on Day 7.

Read all about it: Another fine article by Alison Comyn in the Drogheda Independent. This one highlights the opening day ceremonies.

John McCullen has long aspired to put Beaubec on the map, and now it is! Google have officially recognised the monastic site for the entire world to locate on their mapping platforms.

Our artist in residence has been encouraging others to express themselves artistically. This duck (some say swan) was crafted by Catherine.

Distinguished visitors to the site today included Anthony (left). He is shown here with diggers Tomás and Eamonn. Anthony dug with us last year and we are hoping that he finds the time to help us again this season.

Áine explains the art of dowsing to Andy using divining rods belonging to her mother Ann Marie Moroney of the Boyne Valley. Andy comes from a family of diviners but left the trade to pursue his career in rock and roll.

Touching time by John Sunderland

I have for long time now been fascinated with the processes of both art and archaeology, of how the crafts of both disciplines require a degree of intuition, of knowing and yet not quite knowing where one is going and feeling a path through the materials. Whether this is excavating a feature through the touch of a trowel, or developing a drawing through the connection between eye, hand, and pencil, both require a degree of sensitivity to surfaces and substances.

I am delighted to have this opportunity to investigate this further at Beaubec, to be able to combine these practices by making drawings using archaeological soils retrieved from the site as they are excavated in combination with archaeological drawing techniques. I use the drafting paper (used for scale drawing in archaeology) and make pigments from soils by adding water and griding them in a pestle and mortar. I apply this to my drawing and photograph each stage, watching and recording the processes of drying and sometimes wetting (in rain). Soil in this context becomes unstable, cracking and falling as it dries going from dark to light and back to dark again. The environment impacts on the works and the photographs still this change. The outcomes of this work will be the photography, although I am interested in how these works can be made stable, or when they become stable, how will they look?

There are other questions arising from this process and other practices that I’m working on whilst I also excavate in this immersive experience of creating within an archaeological excavation, a process of touching time. I will be sharing my thoughts and some results over the next three weeks as we excavate the site.

The team returned to their cuttings with a vengeance this morning determined to resolve all the issues brought up by last week’s digging. Tops of partially demolished walls appeared and a lintelled drain meanders through the width of a cutting. A charcoal/burnt clay spread is increasing in size by the minute and the rumour has started that we may have another kiln on the site! Further work is taking place on sectioning the kiln from earlier seasons and following a drain that runs under it and the medieval wall. John introduced the directors to his on-site creative project which is all very exciting. We will be providing regular updates on this over the next three weeks.

General view of the site at the end of the day (Drone photo by Anthony Murphy).

John, Catherine and Tara have been working on sectioning the kiln.

Mikala excavating the large burnt spread. Could this be another kiln?

Alex found the line of the wall in his cutting by the end of the day.

Paula (left) and Loretto ploughing through the rocky layer in Cutting W. These two are Geraldine’s sisters. Earlier, Juliana and her two boys were getting through the rocky layer at the opposite (western) end of the cutting. Thanks all!

John, archaeologist/artist in residence, outlines his artistic ambitions.

Alex McCullen has provided us with another beautiful image of Beaubec.