Our archaeologist Mark Newman says: “This work has brought a startling and moving reconnection with the monks who once lived and prayed at this extraordinary site.
“The existence of a monks’ cemetery on the site has been known for centuries. Our conclusions about the formation of the graves are supported by reports from Victorian workmen at the site who uncovered some of the graves in several tiers which had already suggested multiple burials in the same grave cut.
“However, until now we did not know the exact location or scale of the cemetery.”
The images show the graves laid out in regular, curving rows running east from the abbey church, measuring approximately 80 metres by 60 metres.
Exceptional results
Dr Chris Gaffney of University of Bradford says: “The results at Fountains are little short of remarkable. Archaeologically they are among the most complete graveyards uncovered using geophysical techniques.
“As a general rule, burials are difficult to detect by geophysical means, so revealing the whole layout of a cemetery, in the way that we have, is exceptionally unusual.”
Mark Newman concludes: “It’s only too easy today to think about monasteries like Fountains as just magnificent ruins; we might vaguely acknowledge that there were real people involved in the story somewhere – but it’s often hard to connect with them directly.
“These findings are a profound and unexpected reminder that the monks have never really left Fountains Abbey. They’ve been here, at rest, some of them for almost 800 years.
“This has been an incredible opportunity to work with a remarkable group of geophysics experts and we are extremely grateful to them for their support, advice and enthusiasm. Thanks to this remarkable modern technology and research, we now know fascinating and hitherto unknown details of the life of the monastic community which we can share with our visitors.”
The discovery of the monks’ cemetery features in our new series of podcasts ‘Bettany Hughes's Ten Places, Europe & Us’.