In the Lesnes Abbey archaeological record the first limited reconstruction of what parts of the abbey looked like can be traced back to the Antiquarian William Stukeley, who visited this site in c.1752. During this time much of the eastern and western sides of the old abbey ruins were buried beneath some 2m+ of mixed ruin-field building demolition, make-up dumps and agricultural top soil.
Across other parts of the site were located a scatter of old abbey buildings, many of which were reused as part of the later post-medieval farmstead. A few of these buildings survived well into the 19th century, before they were demolished and levelled over.
To the south of the post-medieval farmstead some old abbey walls formed part of a “so-called” walled kitchen garden. It is across this area that Stukeley made his sketch section and plan of large medieval wall remains, which stood some 2 storeys in height, and also claimed that he found the grave of Richard de Luci under a BayTree, Point A, (Fig 1).
Figure 1. Sketch section of what Stukeley thought was the surviving north wall of the
conventional church, (after Stukeley 1752).
Across this standing wall he also recorded a number of fairly regular spaced Gothic-Early English style pointed arch windows at first floor level, with smaller Romanesque style round-headed windows and door at ground floor level. Much of these building remains Stukeley interpreted as being part of the conventional abbey church, situated across the northern side of the site.
Later excavations in c.1909-1913 by William Clapham however demonstrated that Stukeley’s surviving wall was in fact part of the northeastern Refectory and Dorter Buildings of Lesnes Abbey, and the conventional church was situated across the southern side of the Cloister, under some 2m + of demolition and make-up dumps, (Clapham 1909-1915).
Although several of his contemporaries and later biographers suggest that Stukeley was a skilled draftsman with a keen eye for detail, in later years he was criticised for placing the Lesnes Abbey Church to the north. However, as the southern side of the Cloister was covered by such a vast demolition dump, he probably did not see the ruins of the church.
In retrospect, Stukeley’s early observations represent the first clear archaeological evidence that shows some parts of the old abbey was still standing to two storeys + in height, some two hundred + years after it was dissolved between c.1524-1525 “as part of Henry V11 dissolution of the monasteries policy”.
By c.1909-1913 the archaeological programme of uncovering, recording and interpreting the remains of Lesnes Abbey was carried out by Clapham. This is when we start to see one of the first visual ground-plan images of what this abbey looked like through his plans and photographs, (Fig 2).
Over the following 40 years several other limited excavation were carried out, which added to his initial work and resulted in the discovery and interpretation of new abbey buildings, structures and other archaeological data.
During this time we also see several revisions to Clapham’s original plan and limited sections, as well as more archaeological fieldwork across the eastern and western sides of the Cloister. Some of this work revealed further remains of several foundations-primary wall courses and robbed foundation trenches, which later lead to partial rebuilding of abbey walls across various parts of the site.
Between 2014 to the present day a programme of archaeological survey and other fieldwork is still being carried out across the Lesnes Abbey Estate. The purpose of this work is to try and answer some of the many archaeological-historical questions, which previous research failed to address, (Thomas 2014, 2016).
One question concerns trying to understand the various phases of building work, later conversions and alterations that some abbey buildings went through during their 350+ years before being dissolved, and what happened after this event when some old abbey buildings were converted into parts of the later post-medieval farming estate.
Creation of the Lesnes Abbey 3D Reconstructions
Throughout various programmes of archaeological fieldwork the Lesnes Abbey research has provided a number of clues regarding what the abbey and its surrounding landscape may have looked like at various stages throughout its lifetime.
Figure 2. Early plan of Lesnes Abbey, (after Clapham 1909-1913).
From this it is possible to create a number of phased building reconstructions, which not only show its visual appearance, but also how some buildings changed over a long period of time.
While aspects of this research is still ongoing, in the past there have been some attempts in producing overall phased reconstructions of the abbey buildings, mainly based on the Clapham plan (Fig 2).
Generally he saw much of his exposed building work as evolving from one phase of occupation with limited later extensions and alterations. However, the use of Romanesque and Gothic-Early English style moulded stonework architecture along with some of the wall jointing methods, discrepancies in the overall building layout-symmetry and other factors suggest that this was not the case.
The 3D reconstruction process started with a drawn image of the abbey building, which seems to have been in use by at least 2009, and represents a view across the north-western side of the Abbey Cloister and Church, (Fig 3).
Figure 3. North-eastern reconstruction of Lesnes Abbey shows Church, Cloister, Frater and
Doter buildings.
While this reconstruction is surrounded by a dark smokey-like backdrop, the view of the abbey is from the northwest, and shows that part of this building sequence was constructed using early Romanesque round-headed and later Gothic-Early English pointed head window styles at ground and first floor level.
Later in 2016 two more accurate 3D reconstructions were created, which also reflect a global view of the abbey. One image is a wider birds eye view across the north-western side of the abbey, while the other is viewed from the south-east with added cut away view into the church, which reflects both medieval and early post-medieval development inside the church.
Initially these images were produced as a series of drafts by professional Cad illustrators following detailed email discussions with the scheme archaeologist and Bexley Council to establish architectural and structural accuracy of each part of the abbey being used in the reconstruction.
Once this was agreed, several Cad drawings were produced, the end result of which is still in use today on the Bexley Council website, their information pack regarding the abbey site and in displays across various parts of the parkland.
The most recent 3D reconstructions also reflect various up to date excavated data, buildings-structure and features found in and around the abbey, so that we can get the view as accurate as possible.
On the Cad image that shows the north-western face and West Front of the Abbey building, it not only reflects what the whole building could have looked like from this angle, but also presents a better view regarding the architectural fashion-change from earlier Romanesque to later Gothic-Early English styles, (Fig 4).
Figure 4. 3D reconstruction across the northwestern side of Lesnes Abbey 2016, (after Bexley
Council 2016).
As we move across to the south-eastern 3D image this shows the external and internal parts of the abbey church as a pure Gothic-Early English style building constructed between c.1190-1200s+ with pointed window style architecture.
Internally the view represents much thinner-lighter, but more stronger free standing arched column walls and attached columns in the Nave, Central Crossing Tower and North Transept.
These extend to two-three storeys in height and give the church a much more free airy appearance. After this time later alterations across the abbey church may have also reflected later perpendicular style architecture across some parts of its upper superstructure, (Fig 5).
Figure 5. 3D reconstruction across south-eastern side of the abbey, with cut-away internal view
across the Nave, Crossing, North Transept and Lady Chapel, (after Bexley Council
2016).
Both recent 3D reconstructions across the abbey reflect the interaction between the abbey and its surrounding agricultural and woodland landscape, some of which were recorded during recent archaeological fieldwork. This is important because these images support the view that Lesnes Abbey was the central focus of a large farming estate, so the surrounding field, orchards and woodland were critical to the abbey’s survival throughout its 350+ years existence.
To date there is no available archaeological or survey evidence to show that the abbey precinct was closely surrounded by a small boundary wall that ran along the western frontage of Lesnes Abbey Church. However, during 2015-2016 our excavations to the west and east of the abbey revealed the remains of the western Gate-House, outer western “Pilgrims Path” trackway and part of the north-western Boundary Wall and north-eastern Boundary Wall, which can be dated to the late 11th-12th century.
The 3D image beyond the southern and western side of the abbey frontage is also important because across this area were located a number of structure and features, which appear to ran up towards the abbey frontage, which includes part of a previously unknown burial ground that may have been originally laid out within an orchard across the suggested south-western Monks Garden area, an orchard of which is noted on the later 1665 map of this area, (Fig 5).
The relationship between orchards and burials are important because in some medieval monastic traditions, the layout of a burial ground in an orchard environment was considered a way of laying their dead in a highly spiritual place where peace and tranquillity could be maintained. In such circumstances, the orchard burial ground was intended to provide a spiritual refuge, refresh the senses of the living, and provide the means of respect for the deceased in an environment, which was recognised as a symbol of paradise on earth, (Landsberg 1995).
So in conclusion, the most recent 3D images of Lesnes Abbey represent the best reconstructions to date, which is based on surviving foundation-walls uncovered during past generations of excavation together with some of the most recent archaeological features recorded across this area.
When the 3D images are viewed in relationship to the available site data, there is a saying that “one accurate image of a site is worth a 1000 words”. So, using these images we can show the general public, tourists and more inquisitive people who visit such sites for specific academic reasons what Lesnes Abbey would have once looked like.
Anthony B Thomas, BA(Hons), MCIfA
Bibliography
Clapham A W, 1913. Lesnes Abbey in the Parish of Erith Kent. Being the complete Report of the
Investigations, Archaeological and Historical carried out by the Works
Committee of the Woolwich Antiquarian Society. 1909-1913. The Cassio
Press, London
Landsberg S, 1995. The Medieval Garden. British Museum Press
Thomas A B, 2014. The Lesnes Abbey Enhancement Project, Abbey Road, London Borough of
Bexley. Archaeological Watching Brief Project Design Report. PRM
Archaeology
Thomas A B, 2017. Archaeological Fieldwork and Survey across the Western Precinct of Lesnes
Abbey and Surrounding Parkland and Woodland, Stage 1: The Old Lesnes
Lodge Area 1 and Western Trench Area 2. London Borough of Bexley. PRM
Archaeology. PRM Archaeology
Thomas A B, 2017. Archaeological Fieldwork and Survey across the Western Precinct of Lesnes
Abbey and Surrounding Parkland and Woodland, Stage 2: The Wider Park
and Woodland Landscape surrounding the Lesnes Abbey site. London
Borough of Bexley. PRM Archaeology. PRM Archaeology
Greater London
Council, 1969. Lesnes Abbey. A short history and guide