A series of archaeological recording projects that occurred during the restoration of the former site of Evesham Abbey. This included general watching brief work, standing building recording, evaluation and community excavation and recording. Avon Archaeology Limited were commissioned by Evesham Abbey Trust to undertake a series of archaeological works comprising excavation, survey and monitoring at Evesham Abbey. The work was carried out at the request of Historic England in response to proposals by Evesham Abbey Trust to carry out conservation work, and to allow public access with the creation of a community garden. The standing remains of the abbey precinct had fallen into serious disrepair, and the site had been placed on the Heritage at Risk register. The following report makes a formal record of all the archaeological work associated with the restoration project, covering a two year period. It is divided into chapters which record each significant stage of the project. Chapter 1 gives an introduction and overview of the project. Chapter 2 details a three trench evaluation on the site. All three trenches showed a similar upper stratigraphy comprised of modern deposits related to the allotments, overlying substantial levelling or landscaping deposits containing waste material associated with the abbey. The deposits derive primarily from abbey demolition material, subsequently disturbed and moved around the site during the antiquarian excavations of the 19th century. Cuts that probably reflect robber trenches, where parts of the abbey were demolished, were recorded in Trenches 1 and 2. Whether they derive from the 19th century excavations or an earlier period of demolition and robbing remains unclear. Structural archaeology related to the abbey was recorded in Trenches 1 and 3. In Trench 1 a stone drain matching the probable alignment of the northern wall of the cloisters was recorded.. At the eastern end of Trench 3 a substantial wall was observed directly underlying the extant standing wall that forms the northern boundary of the site. This wall correlates with the position of the northern wall of the abbey church, as recorded during the early 19th century excavations by Rudge. Furthermore, a terminus to this wall was seen at its western end, which aligns with a doorway, and putative processional walkway, shown on the Rudge plan. Chapters 3 and 4 record the process of providing a water supply to the site, initially from the mains on Abbey Road to the south-west corner of the site, and a later an agreed extension to take the connection to the east side of the site. In the main, the trench excavated for the water supply pipe encountered modern deposits, however it did have to penetrate both the south and east perimeter walls. In both cases, the work provided a window, though limited to below ground courses, into the perimeter walls. Disturbance was kept to an absolute minimum throughout the process. Chapter 5 records the work carried out as part of a community excavation. There were two focal points for this work; Area 1 investigated a linear rubble like structure in the location of the west end of the abbey church, and Area 2 focused on clearing modern debris from the open trench located over the north-west crossing pier of the abbey church, on the park side of the abbey precinct. The work carried out in Area 1 confirmed that the rubble structure was the remaining core of the west end of the abbey church, with buried remains of the structure forming a return to below ground courses of the north wall of the abbey church, as found during the evaluation stage. The work in Area 2 was primarily conducted to re-survey the remains of the north-west crossing pier using modern technology prior to its re-burial for preservation purposes.
Rachel Heaton (Sun,) studied this question.