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Time Team travelled to Brimham, in the Yorkshire Dales, to meet Chris and Barbara Bradley on their farm and solve a challenging archaeological jigsaw puzzle.
There is evidence of at least 1,000 years of farming on the land that now makes up Chris and Barbara's farm. The walls of the farm outbuildings are partially built with religious-looking masonry – some with Latin inscriptions – and the cows have uncovered what look like stone walls in the fields. Where did all this stone come from and what once stood where the farm is today?
Until Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries, the land used to be owned by Fountains Abbey, and some of the inscriptions found in Chris's cowsheds look similar to the carvings on the nearby abbey, just six miles away. So this was the starting point for a three-day investigation in which Tony Robinson, Mick Aston and the team unearthed a story of how Chris and Barbara's farm was once part of a rich, thriving religious order – contributing to one of the most powerful medieval monasteries in Britain.
Watched the programme, browsed the web pages? Now try our quick quiz to see how you get on.
Which order of monks established Fountains Abbey?
Carthusians
Premonstratensians
Cistercians
Whose rule did they follow?
St Benedict
St Augustine
St Ivel
Monks who live together under an abbot are known as what?
Anchorites
Sarabites
Cenobites
Hermit monks are known as what?
Anchorites
Sarabites
Cenobites
Where were the first known monasteries?
Palestine
Egypt
Ireland
In what decade did Henry VIII dissolve the monasteries?
1530s
1540s
1550s
Answers here.
As is so often the case with Time Team digs, the story the Team unearthed about Chris and Barbara Bradley's farm turned out to be more complicated than expected – and the remains on site much grander.
For around 400 years, the monks of Fountains Abbey ran the area as a monastic farm – a grange. This would have been no small enterprise, but part of a large-scale operation contributing not only to the immediate needs of the occupants of the abbey but to the wider economy. By the 13th century, the abbey owned vast landholdings, stretching across large areas of northern England, as far afield as Teesside and the Lake District. Much of these huge estates were given over to sheep-keeping, but the abbey granges also grew various crops and incorporated mills, tanneries, fisheries, breweries, forges and smithies – covering the whole gamut of medieval agriculture and industry. They were mainly operated not by monks but lay brothers (see Matt Williams takes up the habit), who added hugely to the wealth and property of the abbey.
By the end of the 13th century, Fountains Abbey had become one of the wealthiest monastic institutions in Britain, and some time in the 1300s it built a grand house where Chris and Barbara's farm now stands. This was rented out to someone of wealth and importance locally, and functioned as a sort of manor house, although the abbey retained ownership. In the 15th century, it is thought that the land was taken back for the direct use of the abbey, providing an impressive home for its abbot, who made his home there.
Following the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII (see Monasteries: a short history), the monastic holdings were redistributed and sold off and the existing structures eventually demolished. They were replaced by the buildings that make up Chris and Barbara Bradley's farm today. These incorporated materials from the old monastic buildings, including former windows, doorways, corbels, plinths and other stones. Part of the modern farm buildings even incorporated a large cellar from the original monastic structures. The whole site bears the signs of the upheaval that followed Henry's destruction of the monastery system, with piles of monastic debris buried just beneath the surface, and reused in field walls and so on, as well as in the new buildings themselves.
Unfortunately, the religious lettering still visible on many reused stones turned out to be too fragmented or too worn down for Time Team's experts to make sense of what it said, but they had no doubt that it came from a religious building, most likely a chapel. A possible site for a chapel was identified by geophysics towards the end of the third day. There wasn't time to excavate this, but in addition to various piles of monastic debris found in trenches such as the one Tony Robinson was keen to dig in the Bradleys' garden, Raksha Dave's trench identified the foundations of what was likely to have been a medieval dovecote – and Phil found himself digging what was most likely a garderobe, or toilet, from the abbot's grand 15th-century house.
The size and extent of the surviving walls and foundations uncovered by Phil revealed that this would have been a very grand property indeed. It was at least two storeys high and built to the standards of Fountains Abbey itself. An indication of what it might have looked like and how it would have operated in its heyday can be obtained from the King's Manor, York, which survives today as part of the University of York.
Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of third-party sites.
The cameo for this week's programme involved Time Team digger Matt Williams taking on the role of a medieval lay brother. Here we take a brief look at medieval monastic life and its origins. For more detailed information, see also Monasteries: a short history.
Where it came from
Monastic teachings go way back to the time of the birth of Christ, when a group of desert hermits known as Coptic monks practised in Egypt. Their religion spread from the east and gradually gained popularity on the fringes of Europe, including Ireland, during the 5th century AD. By the 6th century, a set of monastic rules had been established by St Benedict, setting out how monks should live. In 597, St Augustine reached England and set about establishing St Benedict's rule here. Monasteries became an important part of life in Britain, and existed as such until Henry VIII dissolved them in the 16th century.
Where monks lived
Monks created their own communities known as monasteries. These are essentially self-contained settlements. Most monasteries have a variety of buildings gathered around a main abbey church, which support the settlement and its interests. These range from kitchens and breweries to libraries (scriptorium), offices, administration buildings and chapter houses where the community governed itself. Monasteries were also commonly charged with caring for the sick, so many have hospital buildings too. The monks themselves lived either in dormitories or individual cells. These were very basic, with few, if any, creature comforts.
The economy of the abbey
The majority of monastic sites held great influence locally, and sometimes regionally or even nationally. At the head of the house was the abbot, or, in the case of a nunnery, the abbess. They exercised control over both their own monastic communities and often those of the surrounding area. Many sites were lands given by wealthy donors hoping to secure themselves places in heaven, and as a result the well-established monasteries were often vast concerns with great wealth and large-scale agricultural and industrial activities.
An abbot would normally have a prior to assist in the administration of the monastery; and it's the prior who would deal with the day to day running of the site and oversee all the monks, novices (trainee monks) and lay brothers (as played by Matt). This last category in the community consisted not of monks but workers who tended fields and farms, made beer or managed woods under the control of the abbot. They were incorporated into the religious life of the abbey, but their role was less academic and more manual than the monks.
The monk's life
The foundation of monastic life is the strict adhesion to an immovable timetable of prayer, education, contemplation and penance. In theory, at least, monks were allowed no personal belongings and lived a hard life wearing rough cloth, sleeping on hard surfaces, and eating little. Their day would start shortly after midnight, when they would have to get up and meet in the abbey church for prayers. From that point on they would have to get up every two or three hours for further services, which took place up to seven times a day. Even when they stopped for the one meal of the day they would eat in silence apart from the tones of a brother conducting Bible readings. When not in communal prayer the monks would be expected to spend time in private prayer and contemplation. In the few remaining hours outside of formal religious practice, the monks were educated and learned the skills for which they are so well known, such as writing and illumination (decoration) of manuscripts.
Monasteries in the Landscape by Mick Aston (Tempus, 2000) £17.99
This is a revised, rewritten and extensively updated edition of Mick Aston's 1993 book Monasteries (long since out of print), which focused on the place of the monasteries in the British landscape. In this new book he explains how and why monasticism developed in Britain and why monasteries were placed where they were. The book looks beyond the closed world of the monastery, abbey or priory, to examine their agricultural, industrial and commercial activities, which had a huge impact on the surrounding countryside and towns.
Discovering Abbeys and Priories by Geoffrey Wright (Shire, 1998) paperback £5.99
The new edition of this user-friendly handbook clarifies the difference between abbeys and priories, traces the history of monasteries from Anglo-Saxon times to the dissolution, and describes the different monastic orders. Considerable reference is made to sites open to the public.
Abbeys and Priories by Glyn Coppack (Batsford/English Heritage, 1990) paperback £15.99
This well-illustrated introduction to the archaeology of monasteries explains the development of the variations on the familiar layout of church and cloisters; it discusses the monastic precincts and such fundamental topics as the drainage and sanitation.
Medieval Monasteries by J Patrick Greene (Leicester University Press, 1992) paperback £19.99
A good overview of the archaeological (and literary) evidence for monastic houses in Britain in the Middle Ages and life within them with frequent reference to important sites. Everything from the layout of buildings to the diet and drinking habits of the monks who inhabited them is covered in this wide-ranging book. The archaeology is put in the context of the complex history of monasticism in Britain, from its origins on isolated islands to the dissolution of corrupt and wealthy monastic estates in the 16th century. Clearly written, with no architectural or ecclesiastical jargon.
Life in a Medieval Abbey by Tony McAleavy (English Heritage, 1996) paperback £6.95
Colourful picture book explaining monasticism in simple terms, from a ÔwhoÕs whoÕ of medieval monks to an evaluation of the political role of the church in medieval England. Distinguished from other guides by some brilliant reconstruction paintings.
Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of third-party sites.
Fountains Abbey: a World Heritage Site
www.fountainsabbey.org.uk
Official National Trust website for Fountains Abbey, including visiting information.
Fountains Abbey
www.castles-abbeys.co.uk/Fountains-Abbey.html
Part of a wider enthusiast's website on castles, abbeys and medieval buildings. This is a good, brief history of Fountains Abbey, including an explanation of the role of lay brothers (see Matt Williams takes up the habit) and their importance to the abbey and regional economy.
Fountains Abbey: virtual tour and brief history
www.faculty.de.gcsu.edu/~dvess/ids/fa2/foun1.shtml
Dr Deborah Vess's website providing a brief history and virtual tour of the abbey.
The King's Manor, York
www.york.ac.uk/admin/presspr/kmanor
York University web pages on the King's Manor, a grand former monastic manor that gives an idea of how the building at Brimham may have looked and functioned in its heyday.
For links to other websites, either on archaeology generally or specific to the periods and subjects raised in the programme, see our extensive section on Archaeology websites. In particular, see the section on the Medieval era.
Which order of monks established Fountains Abbey?
Cistercians
Whose rule did they follow?
St Benedict
Monks who live together under an abbot are known as what?
Cenobites
Hermit monks are known as what?
Anchorites
Where were the first known monasteries?
Egypt
In what decade did Henry VIII dissolve the monasteries?
1530s