A late medieval pit at Westminster Abbey

When the deanery of Westminster Abbey was being rebuilt in the autumn of 1951, as a result of war damage, a pit was found containing fourteen complete pots and fragments of nearly twenty others. The Ministry of Works was called in and the pottery was cleaned and restored in the Ancient Monuments Laboratory; it is now in the deanery. Unfortunately the pit was dug out by workmen before the find was reported to the Clerk of Works, but all the pottery was said to come from the one pit. The pit was about 5 × 3 ft. and was situated under a new flight of stairs in the new entrance hall (fig. I). It is not possible to tell exactly how this part of the building was arranged in late medieval times but the pit appears to have been inside the building. Although it has the general appearance of a latrine pit it may have been used for storage or some other purpose. The wall immediately to the east is twelfth century and the room in which the pit now is was probably the twelfth-century hall of the abbot's lodging. The whole building was reconstructed by Abbot Litlington in the late fourteenth century and Abbot Islip carried out further work in the early sixteenth century.