Syon Park training excavation (MoLAS and Birkbeck College) (SYP03)

Author: Roy Stephenson

The 2004 Birkbeck training excavation took place in the grounds of Syon Park. Syon House, the London home of the Duke of Northumberland, is built on the site of Syon (Sion) Abbey, which was the only Bridgettine house in England during the medieval period. The abbey — founded by Henry V, who also established a Carthusian monastery and royal palace on the opposite bank of the Thames at Shene (Richmond) — was a dual order serving nuns and monks. At the time of its suppression in 1539 the abbey was one of the wealthiest in the country.

In May 2003 an archaeological evaluation was undertaken by Channel 4's ‘Time Team’ to locate the ground plan of the abbey church and associated precinct. The evaluation comprised a geophysical survey and eight trial trenches, which successfully identified the church and enabled an interpretative plan of part of the abbey to be proposed. The trenches confirmed some aspects of the survey and began to examine the internal church layout including the location of pier bases (not revealed by the geophysical survey). Evidence for post-Dissolution phases and features from the 17th- and 18th-century formal gardens were also identified.

Syon Park is located on sand and gravel of the Kempton Park Terrace, and may once have been on an island cut off from the Middlesex bank by an oxbow of the River Thames. Today the river lies approximately 250m to the south-east. This area is also of interest for earlier periods, evidenced by the Late Bronze Age metalwork hoard eroded from the Syon Park riverbank and the Early to Middle Iron Age settlement evidence from nearby Snowy Fielder Waye, Isleworth. Roman and Saxon finds have also been recovered, particularly in the Brentford area.

MoLAS and Museum of London Specialist Services supplied the site supervisor, digging equipment, geomatic expertise, finds processing staff and specialists during the course of the excavation. Students enrolled on the training dig found the input from professional experts an important and enjoyable part of the course. MoLAS and Specialist Services continue to be involved in the post-excavation process.

This site report is extracted from MoLAS 2004: annual review