Christopher Phillpotts

Ian Grainger

The abbey of St Mary Graces in East Smithfield, London, was excavated in 1983-8 as part of the Royal Mint site. Founded in 1350 by Edward III and suppressed in 1539, it was the only new Cistercian house in the 14th century and the last founded in England before the Dissolution. It was also the only Cistercian abbey established in an urban setting and was built in the immediate aftermath of the Black Death of 1348-50 on the site of one of two emergency burial grounds created in London to cope with that epidemic. The excavations recorded approximately three-quarters of the abbey ground plan. Elements of the church were uncovered, including much of the presbytery, part of the nave and several chapels, together with 131 burials of both laity and ecclesiastics. Also recorded were parts of the chapter house, cloisters, refectory, infirmary and kitchen, as well as two external cemeteries. While the ground plan included elements that are paralleled in earlier Cistercian houses, overall, the abbey's layout was far closer to that of contemporary 14th-century houses, particularly those of the friars. The work reported here represents the large-scale excavation and post-excavation analysis of a singular, relatively short-lived, later medieval Cistercian house and is of considerable importance to medieval archaeology and specifically to Cistercian studies.

The Cistercian Abbey of St Mary Graces, East Smithfield, London

Christopher Thomas

Chiz Harward

Nick Holder

London's Spitalfields Market was the location of one of the city's largest archaeological excavations, carried out by MOLA between 1991 and 2007. This book presents the archaeological and documentary evidence for medieval activity here, on the north-eastern fringe of the historic city, and the site of the Augustinian priory and hospital of St Mary without Bishopsgate, later known as St Mary Spital.Large areas of the medieval precinct have been explored, making this by far the most intensively investigated medieval hospital, and one of the most extensively investigated monastic establishments, in Britain. Founded in 1197, rebuilt on a larger scale and refounded in 1235, the hospital catered primarily for London's sick poor. A pre-existing extramural and extraparochial cemetery became the priory's principal cemetery. As the priory continued to attract patrons and wealth, it expanded its precinct and carried out major building programmes. By the 15th century the small hospital had become one of the largest Augustinian priories in southern England. Medical treatment in the 14th century is illustrated by remarkable evidence from the canons' infirmary with its attached pharmacy; a trend towards secularisation in the 14th and 15th centuries is shown by the hamlet of timber houses and workshops that grew around the cemetery. An exceptional survival was the charnel crypt of the 14th-century cemetery chapel, which is preserved today under Bishops Square.

Excavations at Spitalfields Market, London E1, 1991-2007

The Medieval Priory and Hospital of St Mary Spital and the Bishopsgate Suburb

Barney Sloane

St Mary Spital, Bishopgate was founded in 1197, and grew to become one of the biggest institutions for the care of the sick in medieval London. This report details all the discoveries made during extensive excavations, from all aspects of the building materials to ceramic, pottery, glass and leather finds through to human and animal bones, and botanical and other remains. However this is an archaeological report with a difference. The editors wanted to make it as reader-friendly as possible, and the result is that all the different strands of evidence have been combined to provide a single chronological account of the priory and hospital, with current research debates covered in thematic sections. These cover topics such as as the hospital buildings, the lives of the inhabitants, and the role of St Mary's within the city of London, as well as the environmental evidence, 126 excavated human skeletons and the reuse of the site after the Dissolution of 1536. An interesting medieval site, examined in an accessible way.

Christopher Phillpotts

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