Syon House, Syon Park, Hounslow - An Archaeological Evaluation of a Bridgettine Abbey and an Assessment of the Results

Wessex Archaeology

The archaeological evaluation was successful in achieving the aims and objectives of the project. The geophysical survey produced results of sufficient clarity to enable an interpretative plan of part of the Brigittine abbey to be proposed. The eight trenches demonstrated the validity of much of the geophysical survey results and provided detail on the location, layout and extent of the abbey church, and the location of a possible cloister to
the south, along with other monastic buildings.

The excavation has provided detail on the construction and development of the abbey church and its internal layout, particularly in relation to a series of pier bases within the abbey church. The physical remains of the abbey were subject to robbing and demolition, as well as severe truncation as a result of a post-medieval landscaping. In consequence the evaluation only produced evidence for the foundation trenches, rubble cores and rubble-filled robber trenches of the abbey buildings with no surviving in situ stonework or floor surfaces. Despite these disturbances, other archaeological evidence survived, most notably two inhumation graves. The limited survival of deposits associated with the abbey beyond those associated with the foundations of the buildings limited the stratified assemblage of later medieval finds.

Finds recovered include personal items (strap-end, button), construction material (architectural fragments, wall plaster and glass) and domestic equipment (pottery) as well as more direct evidence for the inhabitants of the abbey in the form of human remains. The faunal remains (fish, birds, young pig) are indicative of high status consumption waste. Of particular interest are the fragments from a pair of spectacle frames, a rare item with only one known parallel, from London, and the fragments of human skull with associated dress pins. All these items provide human interest in the history of the abbey and its inhabitants.