Medieval cemetery, Newbattle Abbey, Dalkeith, Midlothian

The laying of a sewer through the grounds of Newbattle Abbey, Dalkeith in 2000 required excavations along the likely route of the pipeline. As the route cut through the cemetery associated with the Abbey the excavation trenches were necessarily constrained in size and extent. The remains of walls and a smithing hearth were found but the greatest bulk of the features uncovered were graves. Despite efforts to avoid disturbance to the human remains 127 inhumations and a large quantity of charnel had to be removed during the excavations.

The layout of the abbey was uncovered during excavations in the 19th century but little was known about the scale and evolution of the cemetery, or about the individuals whose lives were involved with the abbey. The main objectives of the post-excavation programme were therefore to develop a chronology for the cemetery and to characterise the human population. This involved a comprehensive programme of radiocarbon dating and analysis of the human bone. A small assemblage of material including medieval pottery, building debris such as floor and roof tiles, stone and mortar, and metalwork and slag were also examined.

Some 20 skeletons were radiocarbon dated. The earliest graves, dating to the 12th century when the abbey was founded, were found closest to the abbey church. Slightly later burials overlay and cut these early burials, indicating that proximity to the church was the preferred location. The cemetery reached its easternmost limit by the 14th century and the latest burials in the cemetery, again at the eastern edge, dated to the 15th -16th centuries. This confirms historical references to the cemetery going out of use in the latter half of the 16th century. The density of burials in the excavated area has allowed us to calculate that the cemetery population might have been approximately 4500 - 5000 burials, or 11 burials a year during the life of the abbey.

Men, women and children were found throughout the area of the cemetery investigated, indicating burial of the lay community rather than of the monastic population alone. However, there were twice as many males as females, as might be expected of a monastic site, and there were fewer immature individuals than might be expected of contemporary civic cemeteries. Males alone were found in the favoured location close to the entrance to the abbey church and this fact, together with the well-made grave slabs over the burials, suggests that the occupants of these graves were possibly senior monks or benefactors of the abbey. Some members of the population had suffered probable sword injuries, from which they had recovered and one poor soul had suffered a dislocated shoulder which repaired itself, probably very painfully, in its disarticulated position.

The final report presenting the results of the radiocarbon dating programme and the specialist analyses was published in 2005 by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in their Proceedings Volume 134, thus satisfying the final requirement of the planning condition which prompted the excavations.

AOC Archaeology Group Excavation Director: John Gooder
AOC Archaeology Group Post-excavation Manager: Ciara Clarke
Project Manager: M J Gleeson Group plc
Client: Stirling Water plc