Subscribe now for full access and no adverts
REVIEW BY HUGH WILLMOTT
This volume was prompted by a decade of excavations by Peter Davey following Rushen Abbey’s purchase by the Isle of Man government in 1998. While these form the core of the work, the volume also synthesises previous investigations and places the site in its wider context.
A brief historical introduction to the medieval abbey is followed by a very thorough investigation of its post-Dissolution life. The volume progresses with the results of the author’s excavations, the reporting of which is made infinitely stronger by his willingness to interweave his own results with those of the earlier investigations. As a result, a rounded overview of the site’s complex stratigraphy and chronology is achieved.
As expected, a century of excavations has provided a wealth of artefactual evidence. Architectural fragments and fittings help reconstruct the appearance of the demolished buildings. Likewise, the dress accessories, ceramics, and items associated with leisure and music illuminate the daily lives of the religious.
The various excavation campaigns have uncovered at least 170 burials. The discussion starts by providing an overview of mortuary practices, including the use of white quartz pebbles in three burials and the inclusion of a mysterious ‘Egyptian’ figurine in another. This is accompanied by an osteological analysis by Marie Weale, providing insights into health and diet.
The volume progresses with a much more in-depth examination of Rushen’s wider estates, before considering the place of monasticism in the Isle of Man, and Rushen is contrasted with comparable Cistercian sites elsewhere. There is a particularly important focus on the physical process of Dissolution and the monastery’s afterlife.
This volume is an important and holistic study of an abbey. There is something for everyone here, including a dead cat in a garderobe! At times, the reader might yearn for a little more detail, especially in the artefactual and osteological analyses, but given the constraints imposed by the size of the volume, such succinctness is understandable. Consequently, Davey and his fellow contributors are to be congratulated for producing such a comprehensive account, and one written in a style accessible to a wide audience.
Rushen Abbey, Isle of Man: a hundred years of research and excavation
Peter Davey
Archaeopress, £40 (pbk) or £16 (eBook)
ISBN 978-1803275710
You must be logged in to post a comment.