Thorney, Cambridgeshire (NGR TF 283042)
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Thorney today is another small fenland village, dominated by its great abbey, located on a small island in the fens which rises to a maximum height of c. 7.1m OD. South of the church the land falls away to c. 4.2m OD at a crossroads around which most of the Victorian and early 20th century settlement is arranged, with more modern development extending along Wisbech Road to the east where the land surface continues to drop gently onto the fen. Much of the present settlement on the north of Wisbech Road comprises uniform rows of south-facing terraced cottages constructed as a model village for the Duke of Bedford in the 18th century. Larger houses, mostly recent, are sited south of the Wisbech Road, while a densely-packed cluster of buildings occupies the area immediately north of the abbey church, which was itself retained after the Dissolution for use as the parish church. The area south of the abbey church is today occupied by a small close of large post-medieval houses arranged around a small green, with other buildings associated the Duke of Bedford's post-Reformation estate to the west. Historical research by the local history society suggests that Thorney was always a small and very remote settlement. Archaeological excavation by the University of Leicester immediately north of the Abbey church revealed medieval and other activity probably associated with the Dissolution, while a community excavation in the pasture fields west of the abbey church is planned to investigate this area considered likely to have lain within the medieval abbey precinct.
Local Information Websites
2006
Nine test pits were dug by HEFA in Thorney in 2006. Test pits THO/06/7, 06/8 and 06/9, sited in the east of the present village at c. 3.4m OD, were all devoid of any pre-modern finds. Although excavation was only able to proceed to a depth of 20cm in THO/06/7 as the water table was reached at this point, this in itself suggested the likely reason for the rejection of this low-lying part of the present village for occupation in the Anglo-Saxon and medieval period. However, in THO/06/8 a layer of charcoal within the clay subsoil was noted c. 60cm below the surface, which was tentatively interpreted as of possible prehistoric origin. Further west, around the church, test pits THO/06/2, 06/3 and 06/4 all produced small quantities of pottery dating to 1200-1400 AD, with 06/4 producing the only evidence for pre-Conquest activity in the form of a single sherd of Stamford ware. All six test pits in the western part of the village (nearer the abbey church) showed a marked rise in activity, as represented by the quantity of pottery sherds, in the immediate post-Dissolution period: this was particularly marked in the westernmost two pits (THO/06/1 and 06/2).
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Pottery Report |
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Test Pit Location Map |
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2007
13 test pits were dug by HEFA in Thorney in 2007, complementing the nine excavated in 2006 and bringing the total to 22. The lower-lying eastern part of the present village was avoided as 2006 test pits showed that this area was probably not occupied in the pre-modern period. As in 2006, none of the 2007 test pits produced any material of Roman date, with the earliest recovered ceramics dating to the late Anglo-Saxon period (850-1100AD). Three test pits (THO/06/4; THO/07/7 and THO/07/11) have now produced material of this date. Although none have yielded more than one late Anglo-Saxon sherd, it is notable that these three test pits are all located in the same area, near the abbey church and south-east of the present road crossing. Although inferences based on three sherds must inevitably be regarded as tentative, is may be that late Saxon settlement at Thorney was present in this area, barely extending beyond the abbey precinct. Several test pits around the present road crossing produced pottery of 11th-14th century date, but only in very small quantities which would normally be interpreted as more likely to indicate moderately non-intensive activity such as cultivation or horticulture. Almost all of the ten pits around the present cross-roads produced 2-4 sherds of pottery dating to c. 1400-1540. This has been interpreted as indicating an increase in activity compared to the pre-Black Death period, but not to any very high level of intensity. Such an increase is, however, very apparent in the post-Dissolution period, with most of the test pits producing large quantities of a range of wares dating to 1150-1700.
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Pottery Report |
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Test Pit Location Map |
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Photographs: To view photographs from your field academy, type the following address into the address bar at the top of your browser window: http://www.arch.cam.ac.uk/aca/******/ (Replace '******' with the unique six-character code you were given for your site during the field academy. Important Note: Make sure you write your code in capital letters. And don't forget the forward slash at the end of the address!). |
2010
Eleven test pits were dug by HEFA in Thorney in 2010, adding to the twenty-two excavated up to 2008 and bringing the total to thirty-three. As well as filling in gaps in previous coverage, four new sites were excavated for the first time, each with two test pits, at Abbey House (immediately west of the abbey church); Park House (300m east of the abbey church); Thorneycroft House (just beyond the southern margin of the present village) and at Toneham House (c. 1.5km south of the village of Thorney).
As in previous years, no material predating the late Anglo-Saxon period was found from any of the excavated test pits. Test pit THO/10/11 in the area between Church Street and Whittlesey Road produced a single sherd of Stamford Ware, and although this was small (2g) it is notable that all the test pits excavated in this area have produced last Anglo-Saxon pottery, supporting the inference that this was the site of a settlement associated with Thorney Abbey, probably a small extra-mural village, possibly planned, outside the abbey precinct but near its gate. Both pits dug in the garden of Abbey House produced late Anglo-Saxon pottery, suggesting that activity at this date extended west of the present north-south road past the church. It is unclear whether this area lay within the Anglo-Saxon abbey precinct or beyond it. Test pit THO/10/6 in the garden around Abbey House also produced a small sherd of Stamford Ware, from an area which almost certainly did lie within the abbey precinct (this find adds a small amount of weight to that suggestion).
The two pits at Thorneycroft between them produced only a single small sherd of high medieval pottery, suggesting that this area may have been arable fields rather than settlement at this date. The pits at Toneham together produced seven sherds of pottery dating to 1150-1400 (Lyveden/Stanion 'A' Ware and Bourne 'A' Ware), suggesting that activity in this area intensified in this period, most likely in the thirteenth century. It is plausible to suggest that this activity did represent settlement: although the volume of pottery is a little low to be entirely confident in this interpretation, digging in very dry conditions meant that nether pit reached natural, therefore the seven sherds may not represent the totality of material from these pits which might have been recovered had they gone deeper. Pit THO/10/1, in particular, produced five sherds from the lowest excavated levels with no evidence of recent disturbance. As in earlier years, nearly all excavated sites, including all the new sites, produced later medieval (post-fourteenth century) pottery in significant volumes, most yielding more material of this date that of high medieval date, supporting the inference made previously that Thorney was thriving in the later medieval period. This growth appears to have continued at all the excavated sites in the post-medieval, post-Dissolution period.
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Pottery Report |
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Test Pit Location Map |
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Photographs: To view photographs from your field academy, type the following address into the address bar at the top of your browser window: http://www.arch.cam.ac.uk/aca/******/ (Replace '******' with the unique six-character code you were given for your site during the field academy. Important Note: Make sure you write your code in capital letters. And don't forget the forward slash at the end of the address!). |
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Pottery Distribution Map |