Time Team - Blythburgh Priory, Blythburgh, Suffolk - Archaeological Evaluation and Assessment of Results

Wessex Archaeology

The remains of the Priory are still upstanding. No intrusive archaeological work has previously been undertaken within the Priory complex, and little is understood of its layout or development, although a number of small evaluations have taken place within the vicinity of the Site, and several scattered finds have been recovered.

The evaluation located at least two inhumation burials which pre-dated the Priory complex; these were radiocarbon dated to AD 670-780 and AD 890-1020 respectively. What may have been the vallum monasteria; the enclosing ditch around the monastic complex, was also revealed. The two early graves had been disturbed by the construction of the nave of the priory church, probably in the 11th or 12th century, and by the extension to the single-celled church by the addition of a crossing-tower and extended chancel. No clear date for this later extension was ascertained, but the recovery of a 14th century brooch from a burial at the eastern end of the extension provides a possible terminus post quem.