It was the calm after the storm today on the dig, following the frenzy of our RTÉ visit yesterday. We all settled down to serious work, completing context sheets and taking final photographs. The find of the day went to Mick Mongey who found a spout of a ceramic vessel that may have been used by the monks for watering their gardens. In the same cutting John found some fine worked flint that could be associated with the pit circle. We had new arrivals Siobhan McCormack (who has worked on many of our excavations) and her friend Áine. They wet sieved deposits all day and filled their basin full of archaeo-environmental goodies. Luke and Robert worked with Billy and then went on to team up with Leo. Leo found a lovely piece of a Bellarmine stone ware jar. Joe and Caoimhe with Leslie started a new cutting and almost finished it in the one day, which has to be a record. Brona and Bea worked away in cutting S in the never ending search for corners. Laura began her drawing of the walls in her cutting and Billy started recording sections in his. We were delighted to see Alan who worked on the site last year with Vanessa and his new beautiful baby daughter Amelia. They have all signed up for next season. In the afternoon Anne McCullen’s grand-daughter delivered scrumptious home-made scones, beautifully presented to the crew.
“Find of the day” went to Mick Mongey for this discovery of a ceramic spout in the ditch fill.
John taking photographs in cutting J (photo: Mick Mongey).
Bernie looks quite pleased with her well-trowelled wall.
A hive of activity at the western end of the excavation.
Joe McCormack (right) dropped off his daughter Siobhain and her friend Áine to work on the site.
Siobhain and Áine after a long day’s sieving. They are not as clean or dry as they were in the morning when they arrived.
“Men at work”: Luke, Leo (with this large stoneware sherd) and Robert (The cover of their forthcoming album).
Brona and Bea in cutting S.
DCU students Caoimhe and Leslie, with Caoimhe’s friend Joe.
The first visitors to the site this morning were (with site co-Director Geraldine), Mary Convery and Ann.
Tom and John explain the intricacies of cutting K to Seamus Dolan (center).
Vanessa, Alan and their new baby Amelia. All have promised to return to Beaubec next year when we can put all three to work.
The smallest of children are made work on this site. Here is Ann’s granddaughter, delivering her grandmother’s delicious scones to the hungry crew.
The scones; beautifully presented and beautiful to eat.
The Day 18 crew exceeded 23 (the number photographed at afternoon tea break). Thanks to all!
Just to show that the excavation is not all about visitors, tea-breaks and delicious scones. The southern wall of the range from the north in cutting G. Note the drains that crossed through and beyond the walls.
Cutting K from the south. The pit in the top left is one of an arc of four pits, provisionally referred to as a Neolithic pit circle.
There was a frenzy of activity around the site this morning, getting everything ship-shape for the arrival of the legend that is John Creedon and his RTÉ television crew. John was in Beamore to interview John McCullen for an upcoming TV series and to see what we were up to on the excavation. Work continued in the Cuttings at a pace and Matt was determined to make the most of newly arrived volunteers by opening up new cuttings in search of corners to the farm building and the latrine block. After three weeks and two days Craig, Lennon and Alex announced that they had bottomed the latrine, a mammoth task. Not content to rest upon their laurels, they immediately began to bring down the interior of the tower block. The wall of the tower show evidence for arches that are either relieving arches or cellars. We may find our French wine yet! The kiln cutting has become quite complicated again with a series of criss-crossing features producing Saintonge pottery and our first piece of worked bone. Catherine found what appears to be a bone button in medieval deposits, the “find of the day”. We were delighted to do an interview with the Drogheda Independent and to see Gabriel Magee (Geraldine’s cousin), Sean Collins and Ivor McElveen. Ivor is an expert on building mortar and member of the Heritage Council. He had a look at the mortar in the tower block and observed that it was remarkably well made. Much of the afternoon was made up of the entire excavation crew getting ready for their close up. Watch this space for news as to when the Creedon show will feature the Beaubec excavation
Morning visit from Alison Comyn of the Drogheda Independent, her two children, and friend Robert (left).
Cousins Gabriel and Geraldine.
Ivor McElveen examines the mortar from the latrine block.
“Find of the day” award went to Catherine who found a worked bone button. Our first evidence of bone working at Beaubec.
Maurice washes and sieves the ditch deposits (photo: Michael Mongey).
Mary (left) and Muireann examine the excellent trowelling work carried out in cutting G.
Maurice after a hard day’s trowelling in cutting G (photo: Mary Sherlock).
Geraldine, John Creedon and RTÉ cameraman filming in cutting J (photo: Mick Mongey).
John Creedon interviews the excavation co-directors Matthew and Geraldine (photo: Mick Mongey).
Sophie introduces the RTÉ camera crew to the intricacies of cutting G (photo: Mick Mongey).
The last week of an excavation always brings a sense of urgency to a site. At Beamore, we are on target with the cuttings almost completely excavated and so recording and survey is becoming the priority. Matt recorded the section face and pit in Cutting K. We know think that this pit is prehistoric and is one of an arc of four pits (three were excavated last year) that form a pit circle about 25m in diameter. We have been finding worked flint on the site and now we may have a context for them. Part of Muireann’s lovely cobbling in the ditch cutting was sacrificed in search of where another of the pits is likely to be located. We will know more tomorrow. John reached the bottom of the ditch today (hurrah!) and found pottery and worked wood on the way. Morris, our newest volunteer, is wet sieving the ditch fill deposits and finding lots of bone. Laura and her team are excavating the base of a wall or buttress that appears to have been a later addition to the farm building. Despite chronic wet conditions in the tower Craig has heroically come down on the floor of the latrine. This has a rounded profile. We had lots of visitor in the afternoon including old friends Matt Lambert, Brian Rogers, Nicky Mallon and Maureen Finn. Animal bone specialist Arlene Coogan had a quick look at our animal bones and identified pig, sheep/goat, cattle, cat and poultry. Unfortunately, we were to busy to photograph our many welcome visitors.
The tower latrine when nearly completely emptied. Craig is barely visible behind all the protective gear. With Lennon and Alex, the tower team is to be congratulated for this feat of perseverance.
The empty latrine culvert!
Craig is not just a tireless digger, he also carries out research for the team and found this model of medieval monastic water management prepared by C. James Bond. We have found many of the features shown in this diagram at Beaubec and the illustration suggests what might lie waiting for us to discover (mill, fish ponds, etc.), After: C. James Bond, ‘Water Management in the Rural Monastery’, in Roberta Gilchrist and Harold Mytum (eds), The archaeology of rural monasteries, BAR British Series 203 (Oxford: B.A.R., 1989).
Today , the farm buildings of the south range are emerging out of all the cuttings west of the tower. This range would have incorporated the kilnhouse/bakehouse. I thought I should share this remarkable fourteenth century (1381) description of a grange similar to Beaubec. There was monastery run by the Augustinians in nearby Duleek, just seven kilometres from the site. The arrangement of the buildings and building materials recorded, particularly in the south of the court(yard), are remarkably similar to that at Beaubec and highlight the potential of our site for further building discoveries. “The above said religious men have and possess peacefully from time immemorial and have obtained in their own use a certain grange there called the house of St Michael of Duleek, and within the grange a chapel is situated and dedicated in honour of St Michael … Situated within the same grange there was one broken down and ruined old hall with a straw thatched kitchen and dairy and one small connecting stable roofed with stone tiles. Likewise there was a long room with a connecting garderobe and a room called the knight’s room, roofed with slates, indeed below the long room there is a cellar serving for a pantry for bread and ale. And below the room called the knight’s room is a larder and below the end of the long room is a stable serving for the proctor’s horses there. And all the buildings are situated on the eastern side of the court. Likewise on the southern side of the court are situated one bakery and malthouse, there was an upper room for the malt to be stored and in the bakery and malthouse , which were covered with slates, were two furnaces, one kiln and one oven for two and a half crannocks (a baskets of corn). Likewise, on the same side, connected to the malthouse and kitchen was a certain small granary for the corn inside to be threshed and one trough for pouring malt and one bakehouse with a pigsty at the end with a thatched roof, through which was the entry into the haggard and at which gate was situated a tilled granary. Under which was a small pigsty for young pigs and sows. Likewise, from the same side as the said granary was situated one long straw thatched cattle shed for oxen and cows. Likewise on the northern side was situated a sheepfold and one long straw thatched stable and there was a stone gate called the high gate with an adjoining room above and a room below for guests, below which was a room for the doorkeeper all of which were roofed with slates, and also between the said high gate and aforesaid kitchen was a stone wall, between which wall and another wall , daubed with mud, which stretched from the said high gate by the kings highway right up to the bridge, on the western and northern side of the said chapel is a garden. And on the eastern side of the said chapel and hall and room called the knight’s room is a large garden with mud wall, enclosed between the high road and knight’s highway and the Nanny river. Likewise, on the west of the said court was a barn in which was a barn in which corn and hay were stacked, without any other or buildings and in the time of Stephen de Bervynton a storehouse in the said barnyard was totally damaged and decayed . At the end of the said barnyard was a straw thatched house called the Kilnehouse (Arlene Hogan, The priory of Llanthony Prima and Secunda in Ireland, 1172–1541: lands patronage and politics, 2008).’’
Inside the tower a large spread of charcoal and burnt clay was excavated and sampled. This produced large quantities of wheat grains and suggest that this area of the tower may have been used as a store which experienced a fire. Penny has been providing very exciting results all week from her sampling and we already have imported figs, elderberry, sloes, damsons, plums and today a grape! She has also identified daub made from baked clay with straw inclusions. However, cutting J was certainly the centre of attention in the afternoon where Aidan was uncovering a large multi handled, highly unusual, medieval jug from the ditch fill live on twitter! (see the link below).
Claudia Kemna with Tighe and Maeve had arrived just in time to watch this event happening and were very excited. Claudia brought bacon rolls for all the crew. These were absolutely fabulous. Please call again! We were thrilled to welcome award winning conservation architect Turlough McKevitt (winner of the 2020 Irish Architecture’s public choice award) – with Frank and Kim – to the site and very much enjoyed sharing our thoughts on the buildings with him. He said something that co-director Geraldine though very profound: “The wall of the tower was built especially for that window”. Famous Fingal archaeologist Christine Baker arrived on site with her children to see her well-trained “Resurrecting Monuments” people in action.Thanks also to Brona’s dad Kevin who drove her and Keeva to the site and then spent the day working hard with us. Another great week of discoveries! Thanks also to John, Anne, Grace, Dermot, Colin and all the Mc Cullen’s for their encouragement and support.
Amongst these visitors listening to John explain the stratigraphy of cutting J is award-winning architect Turlough McKevitt (top centre).
Claudia and her children after visiting the finds office.
Aidan holds the two handles of the two-handled jug he discovered. It is for all the world like a late-medieval attempt to copy roman amphora.
Recording in cutting G.
Christine Baker (Fingal County Council) with her two children and her grown up members of the Resurrecting Monuments brigade. We forgot to congratulate her for her most recently published book: Partnership and participation: community archaeology in Ireland (Dublin: Wordwell, 2020). It was very good of her to pay us a visit.
Treasa Cody volunteered her time this afternoon to clean up the precinct wall for its record photograph.
Mick and Aidan are thinking “how are we going to lift all this pottery”.
Close up of the jugs in the fill of the moat in cutting J.
The day began on site with a lively discussion about bread ovens versus kilns. There was support for and against the ‘kiln’ in cutting A/D/F being a bread oven instead of a corn-drying kiln. Aidan, meanwhile, was wet sieving the medieval ditch deposits and recovered a wonderful piece of medieval window glass, which the site directors got very excited about. In cutting Q there is a complex junction of walls that are being disentangled by Laura with Bernie and Anthony. Anthony found a base batter on his section of the wall, the only other evidence on site for such a batter is on the latrine tower. Bernie found a lovely piece of a strap handle from a small medieval jug in the rubble core of a wall while Meath archaeologist Kieran Campbell was actually inspecting the finds from the cutting. The other Anthony (Mullen) kindly returned to the site to excavate the interior of the farm building. Mary and Tom have been uncovering more of the drains and walls in cutting G. There is a stone forming the side of one of their drains with a red staining, as if the stone was painted. We are not sure if it is paint or caused by a chemical reaction. In the finds office, pottery and tile expert Kieran Campbell called in to identify some of the recent discoveries. He identified medieval finewares, Drogheda wares and, possibly, some pottery from Cheshire. Post medieval Staffordshire wares were also identified. The tiles include medieval plain glazed tiles and ridge tiles. We were delighted to welcome to the site journalist Amy McKeever from the Irish Farmer’s Journal and Nancy Nee McCullen and Marie, cousins of John Mc Cullen.
At the end of a tiring day the team in cutting Q got their reward. Bernie found a strap handle sherd in the medieval wall. The timing was perfect, she found it just as Kieran Campbell came by to look at the Beaubec ceramics.
Anthony displays the base batter on the wall he uncovered in cutting Q.
Nearby, Billy and Catherine, also at the end of a long day, remove the last remnants of the basal layer south of the kiln.
Co-director Geraldine shows the extended McCullen family around the excavation.
There was a surprise in Cutting J when a curving setting of large stones, excavated by Muireann, turned out to be a well. This was cut into the fill of the moat. John found a beautiful painted floor tile inside this well. The tower team have been clearing the late fill and coming down on what appears to be the original floor level above the culvert. In Cutting G, Tom has found the original clay floor of the farm building and Mary’s clearing of wall rubble revealed that a drain was built into the farm building wall. There is no sign of the much desired side wall of the main building in Cutting K despite the great efforts of Donal, Megan (a new volunteer today) and Leo. In the kiln cutting the absence of a decent flue and the concentration of burning at the mouth of the bowl may indicate that our kiln is in fact a bread oven. It has produced large quantities of bread wheat. Laura and her team removed the cobbles of the eighteenth century avenue and are now finding the corner edges of the building that enclosed the ‘kiln’. In the afternoon we had a visit from Alan Betson, award winning Irish Times photographer (three time winner of Photographer of the Year). Look out for a piece on the excavation soon. Sadhbh McElveen, who worked at Beaubec last year, called in to say hello and get a tour around the site.
The well in the moat.
Activity on the site as seen from the western spoil heap (photo: Mick Mongey).
Donal and Megan (and Sophie) (photo: Mick Mongey).
The stony landscape of cutting J (photo: Mick Mongey).
Cutting G as trowelled by Tom and Mary at the end of the day (photo: Mary Sherlock).
Stephen, who worked with us at Bective Abbey and Newgrange, came to work for the day with Billy in cutting F. He single-handedly pushed the settlement history of Beaubec back to prehistory when he found a finely crafted leaf-shaped arrowhead and thumb-scraper. Before the finds trays had even been distributed around the site this morning, the tower team found part of a medieval timber churn in the latrine fill which also produced remains of figs and oats. John, in the ditch cutting J, excavated the last remnants of the post-medieval fill and is ready to move into the medieval fill of the moat (which appears to curve in this section). Anthony, Bernie and Catherine, under Laura’s able leadership, have exposed part of a wall and the edging for the eighteenth century avenue. Tom and Mary in Cutting G are finding medieval pottery and lots of animal bones including a number of almost complete skulls. It was an honour to welcome to the site Donal Hall and his wife,. Donal is President of the County Louth Archaeological and Historical Society. Other visitors included the Boland family from Swords, relatives of Bernie. Glen Boland very kindly took some drone photographs of the site which we should be able to put up on the blog tomorrow. Anthony Mullen came to the site and generously gave Geraldine and Matthew copies of his novel. We look forward to reading it. Matt was most excited today by a visit from his boss James Kelly, Head of School, Department of History and Geography, Dublin City University. James and Judith toured the site but Matt was so busy talking he forgot to take a photograph to mark the occasion. James also visited with the three DCU students volunteers; his first sighting of an actual student since the lock-down in March.
The beautifully-crafted, Neolithic, leaf-shaped arrowhead found by Stephen Newe (photo: Billy SInes)..
Stephen first worked with the Stouts as a thirteen year old at Bective Abbey. He finished his degree in Archaeology at UCD and has also dug at Newgrange.
The tower crew (Craig, Alex and Lennon) with the churn lid. Later they found the handle and some other pieces of the churn.
Long structural timber found in the latrine culvert.
Anthony Mullen shares his publications with co-director Geraldine.
Donal Lynch worked in cutting K today with Matt and Ger. It is the most unforgiving and unproductive cutting on the site. Matt taught Donal at St Patrick’s College. Donal later qualified as a secondary teacher and taught Brona, who later became a student of Matt’s at DCU and is volunteering at Beaubec. Brona is hoping to qualify as a secondary teacher. Who will she teach?
Mick Mongey tooks this lovely view of the excavation from the latrine tower doorway. Lennon, one of the tower crew, is in the foreground (photo: Mick Mongey). Note some of the better photos in this blog are by Mick and Billy Sines. They are not always credited properly.
Geraldine and John discuss the intricacies of cutting J (photo: Mick Mongey).
Bernie (left), part of the cutting E crew, discusses the finds from cutting J with John (left) and her Boland relatives (photo: Mick Mongey).
Glen Boland taking drone photos of the site.
Just arrived at the time of going to press are Glen Boland’s drone photos. Here is a sample, more tomorrow (photo: Glen Boland).
A fine photo of the busy finds office, you might almost say a “finds” photo (photo: Mick Mongey).
Co-director Matt explores the latrine culvert (photo: Craig Downie).
Craig’s team moved back into the tower this morning and immediately uncovered the lower half of a very fine round-bottomed medieval pot. All day long, rich deposits from their cutting were being water-sieved and examined for finds by Keeva and Brona of DCU. They filled a complete tray with small bones, fruit stones (sloe and plum), oyster, mussels and cockle shells and wood. Our young volunteer Bea found a copper alloy button in material from the upper fill of the western vault. A line of three square holes in the back (southern) wall the tower look as if they would have held timber for the seat of a latrine. So our vaults appear to be a medieval culvert built to serve a latrine. In Cuttings E, Laura finished a superb measured drawing of the newly uncovered wall. Billy, in cutting F, found a cache of burnt medieval pottery in the kiln waste. Anthony, Bernie and Ryan have found the top of walls and filled two find trays with post medieval material. In Cutting J, Aidan found another plough pebble and a floor tile fragment. Muireann has been exposing a metalled surface at the end of the Cutting that may be a work surface or a medieval roadway. The walls in cutting G were further exposed by Tom, Mary and Leslie. Matt and Comhall valiantly struggled with the topsoil in cutting K all day.
Muireann exposes the cobbled road/working area in cutting J.
Aidan proudly displays the first plough pebble found in stratified deposits.
Laura with her drawing of the wall exposed in cutting E.
Bea with the bronze button from the upper silt layers in the culvert.
The section of the short flue in cutting F.
John with a wide strap handle from a medieval jug.
Keava (left) and Brona sieve the culvert deposits from the latrine tower.
The southern precinct wall and its associated drain exposed in cutting G.
Tom and Mary proudly display a large base sherd from a medieval jug.
Three holes in the south wall of the latrine tower held the toilet infrastructure.
Finds from the culvert in the latrine tower.
Billy with one of many medieval sherds that have come up with the kiln waste.
In the afternoon at the tower Craig, Alex and Lennon came down upon a deposit very different from the loose brick and clay that filled most of the tower. This deposit was rich in charcoal, animal bone, medieval pottery and a large piece of worked timber. This is the medieval occupation deposit we were hoping for but were never certain that we would find. We are excited by the kind of information it is going to provide next week. Billy has been excavating the flue with help from Treasa Kerrigan. Treasa finished working on an excavation in Rathmullan today and came to give us a hand out. She very kindly came with cakes for the team. Thanks Treasa! Cutting K was extended to find the corner of the tower building and Matt with his DCU history students Keava and Brona found a plough pebble. This find is very significant because it comes from a particular type of thirteenth century plough used by the Cistercians in the middle ages. In Cutting J the team are excavating the medieval fill of the medieval moat and we expect exciting discoveries next week. In Cutting G, thanks to Tom’s great trowelling, the drain we thought was post-medieval now looks to be part of the medieval farm building and the walls of this building are being uncovered by Mary and Leslie. Bea kindly helped us find the extent of walls in Cutting M. After lunch, Billy Sines gave us a wonderful pop-up presentation (a master class, really) on the production of medieval bone combs, the subject of his postgraduate research at UCD. We all want to find bone combs now. Sophie, the site mascot really loved the presentation and hung on his every word.
Craig explores the culvert/cellar at the southern end of the tower.
Wood from the waterlogged medieval deposits in the culvert/cellar.
Medieval finds from the cellar/culvert in the gate tower.
Treasa helps Billy empty out the kiln flue.
Although the excitement of finding our first plough pebble was soon eclipsed by the discovery of medieval timber in the gate tower, Matt was thrilled to find one of these artifacts for the first time after searching for 10 weeks (at Newgrange in 2018 and at Beaubec in 2019). A lot of plough pebbles were found at Bective and a podcast made by Nóra Stout captures Niall Brady’s comments on the importance of plough pebbles. Niall is an expert on medieval ploughing and plough technology. Read about the Bective plough pebbles here: https://bective.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/bective00bradyappendixlow.pdf . Listen to Niall discuss these artifacts here: https://bective.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/bapp-ep1mp3.mp3 at 13:54 to 20:03.
Muireann in cutting J with a piece of medieval pottery she found. J is now down to the medieval layers.
The site is a hive activity (photo: Mick Mongey).
Dermot McCullen (left) and John McCullen examine the developments in cutting J (photo: Mick Mongey).
Planning in cuttings E and F.
Billy delivering his masterclass on the making of bone combs and the significance of bone comb makers in early medieval Ireland.
Sophie finds Billy’s lecture on bone combs very interesting. Maybe she needs to take a closer look (photo: Craig Downie).
Everyone was fascinated by Billy’s lecture on bone combs., but no one in the audience paid closer attention to the presentation than site mascot Sophie.
Penny our environmental archaeologist informed us we had our first medieval bean, coming from the kiln flue. Years ago, Matt’s medieval economic history lecturer made one joke: “Medieval people were literally full of beans”. And so it turns out, because we now know that medieval people in Beaubec were literally full of beans. In cutting F, Billy has exposed the extent of the kiln flue. We look forward to emptying it tomorrow. A new cutting was opened today to find the side wall of the building enclosing the medieval kiln. Tom bottomed the charcoal rich trench which may be the remains of a timber building within the water-filled moat. In Cutting J, John, Muireann and Mick have come down on a cobbled surface that could be an old roadway. Bea McCullen came down the site today to bottom another cutting and also helped Anthony with his buckets. Cutting G produced the goods today, exposing more of the precinct wall and a stone drain that may be similar to the seventeenth century one found in Cutting J. In the tower, Craig’s team are removing the late fill to get down to where the dividing wall and vaults were exposed. There is a space-age, super shovel in the gatetower which is, according to its users, the last word in shovelling technology.
Environmentalist Penny Johnston discovered the first bean found at Beaubec.
Tom and Penny sample the rich charcoal layer from the bottom of “Tom’s ditch”.
“Tom’s ditch” after excavation. It may have been the western side of the moated grange enclosure.
The extent of the corn drying kiln flue is exposed at the right of the photo.
John has come upon a metalled road at the eastern end of the excavation.
Bea McCullen stands proudly above the cutting that she so expertly trowelled.
John captured the moment when Mary discovered a large sherd of medieval pottery. There was great excitement, especially as the pottery was found just beside the newly discovered south-eastern limits of the precinct wall. At the top of the photo you see Billy tweeting the news. Our Twitter following shot above the atmospheric level of 150 followers this day. We expect to be offered trowel endorsements at any moment.
We welcome all visitors, but these are the types of visitors that we really welcome. Marie and Peadar brought their own tools and spent the day toiling mightily. Peadar holds a pick that was made by his grandfather, a blacksmith. Note its unusual terminal.
Beaubec Excavations 