Torre Abbey (TCA02)

Clients: Torbay Council and the Heritage Lottery Fund

Author: Chris Thomas

Site supervisor: Dave Saxby

In 2005 we carried out most of the excavation work at Torre Abbey for the new cloister. The work is funded by Torbay Council and the Heritage Lottery Fund and MoLAS has been acting as archaeological consultant to the project since 2002.

The wall that defined the cloister alley from the garden was originally built in the early 13th century but was replaced at a later date creating a narrower cloister alley and with a higher roof. Outside the cloister walls was a complex series of drains which took the rainwater from the roofs to the south-east corner of the cloister where it flushed the abbey latrines.

The floor of the cloister had been removed during landscaping works in the 18th century but we recovered plentiful evidence of the decorated floor tiles that once lay there. There were also large numbers of graves in the cloister alley, none of which have been excavated as they lie beneath the proposed new floor. However, one has a spectacular tomb slab over a plaster-lined grave (these types of graves are most unusual and four have now been found at Torre) and this slab will need to be lifted.

Fragments of sculpture in one grave are reminiscent of the thousands of fragments recovered from the church representing at least three magnificent tombs. A major part of the project is to analyse the records of previous excavations at the abbey and integrate those into one publication. The main works were undertaken by the Exeter unit in the 1980s within the nave and north transept of the church but other records survive, even from as far back as Watkin’s work in the early 20th century.

An additional trench within the east range of the cloister has helped us to understand the floor levels within the south transept, sacristy and chapter house. Further work on recording and interpreting the standing remains is essential if we are to reconstruct the uses of the buildings, their floor levels, and how they were rebuilt.

Some ‘opening-up’ works in the west range of the abbey have revealed tantalising glimpses of the building’s medieval past. One involved the lifting of part of the floor joists revealing a large void beneath the floor. A chimney in the wall behind suggests the floor void may be the centre of a medieval fireplace from the kitchen, long since bricked up and forgotten.

Work for 2006 will include excavation outside the Abbot's Tower and in the east range, and very extensive standing building recording within the west range of the cloister.

This site report is extracted from MoLAS 2005: annual review