Ramsey Abbey, Cambridgeshire. Geophysical Survey and Archaeological Test pit Excavation

As part of a Young Poots project, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, a geophysical survey and test pit archaeological excavation was carried out at Ramsey Abbey College, Cambridgeshire by Oxford Archaeology East with the permission of English Heritage. This aimed to shed some light on the layout of the principal buildings of Ramsey Abbey. Ramsey was a Benedictine Abbey and was one of the wealthiest medieval religious houses in Britain, known as 'Ramsey the Golden' and yet little is known of the original layout due to the total demolition of the monastery after the Dissolution. The geophysical survey and excavation were carried out primarily by pupils at Ramsey Abbey College, with adult volunteers and supervision from archaeologists at Oxford Archaeology East and geophysicists from Cranfield University. This survey revealed possible buildings to the east of Abbey House. The test pit excavation targeted geophysical anomalies to determine if they represented parts of the original Ramsey Abbey buildings. These test pits showed that if archaeology survives on the site (as suggested by the geophysics) it is buried by more then 0.60m of post-medieval demolition and levelling layers. Finds from the test pits shed some light on the medieval abbey, with pottery, ceramic and stone building material, painted glass, lead window came and vessel glass among the material recovered. Overall, the project has shown that it is extremely likely that at lest some major buildings were located to the east of Abbey House.