Part of the remains of Cerne Abbey. (Photo: Getty/iStock)
Excavations are continuing at the ruins of a monastery in Dorset.
Cerne Abbey was founded in 987 AD as a Benedictine monastery by Æthelmær the Stout, however in 1539 it fell victim to the Dissolution – the destructive campaign by Henry VIII to suppress the monasteries.
The Dissolution was essentially a royal land and power grab, in which Henry VIII acquired much of the wealth held by the monasteries for use by the royal treasuries. Eliminating the monasteries also served to remove Catholic resistance to the Protestant reformers.
The ruins of Cerne Abbey had lain largely undisturbed until 2022, and it was not until 2023 that a team of archaeologists from Sheffield University conducted the first dig at the site. The excavations uncovered an intact burial and further work in 2024 revealed evidence of a medieval hall.
Now researchers have uncovered a number of new findings, notably that the hall originally served as the abbot’s lodging and later was turned into a glazier’s workshop.
A number of pits have also been discovered. These date back to the very earliest days of the monastery and contained pottery and animal bones.
Dr Hugh Willmott told the BBC, “Everything we are doing here is brand new and telling us things we didn’t already know.
“We’ve found another part of the late medieval abbey – the north end of the east range of the main cloister building.
“That’s part of the monastery where the monks would have had their dormitory.”
The discoveries included a large number of iron nails. Blacksmith, Will Sherman, set up a forge at the site and has been using them to make copies of medieval artefacts.
Sherman said, “The nails are not interesting archaeologically but I’ve been making them into copies of things, so it’s medieval iron forged into a medieval shape. It’s cool to show people here who dig these things up how they are actually made.”
Dig reveals more secrets of ancient abbey
