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1.0 Introdu ction

In 2009 a series of alterations to the modern landscape of Rufford Country Park

were proposed, some of which involved work within the scheduled area. The works

were relatively minimal and it was therefore decided to roll them together into oneapplication for Scheduled Monument Consent, with the actual groundworks to be

undertaken under NCC supervision. The most significant piece of work was the

provision of a new fence around an ancient cedar tree on the Abbey Lawn for health

and safety purposes. The remainder of the works involved fencing on the Abbey

meadow and the provision of a new hedge to the Arboretum. The works and an

assessment of their archaeological potential were described in a document provided

by Ursilla Spence in support of the proposal for SMC and dated 2/11/09. This was

accompanied by a plan of the works.

2.0 Site Location

Rufford Abbey Country Park is located approximately 1.6 miles to the south of

Ollerton village (see Fig 1) in the parish of Rufford, and formerly in the Liberty of

Rufford. The private estate of Rufford Abbey and Park was bought by

Nottinghamshire County Council in 1952, and the Abbey ruins transferred to the care

of the Ministry of Works in 1956. The site is now jointly managed by

Nottinghamshire County Council and English Heritage, with the abbey remains in

English Heritage guardianship. The Scheduled Ancient Monument covers 10.3

hectares of the Country Park, and encompasses the areas known as the AbbeyMeadow, Abbey Lawn and Long Meadow.

The underlying geology is the Nottingham Castle Sandstone Formation. To the east

is a valley formed by the Rainworth Water where superficial alluvial deposits make

the soil more fertile. Most of the Scheduled Ancient Monument area is covered by

either grassed lawn or wildflower meadow, including an area of rare acid grassland.

The whole site occupies a gentle slope downwards from east to west, to the valley of

the Rainworth Water. The Abbey Lawn is a level area to the north of the standing

ruins. This area formerly contained the north wing of the house, the abbey church,and extensive gardens to the later house. The area where the cedar is located is

away from the known building foundations in an area of former formal garden. The

Arboretum lies to the east of the Abbey Buildings, adjacent to the modern formal

gardens, while the sheep or Abbey meadow is the piece of grassland north east of

the Abbey buildings, adjacent to the main path to Rufford Mill.


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Fig 1: The location of Rufford Country park within the wider landscape. (Image from

www.openstreetmap.org )

3.0 Site Back gro und

Little is known about the area of the Country Park prior to the foundation of the

abbey in 1146. There is known to have been a village in the vicinity which is

mentioned in the Domesday Book as a manor in its own right, but the precise

location of this village is not known for certain. The abbey was founded by Gilbert de

Gaunt, Earl of Lincoln, and completed in 1170. It was a Cistercian foundation, a

daughter house of Rieuvaulx and was dedicated to St Mary the Virgin. After the

monastery had become established the village of Rufford (and several others in the

area) were abandoned.

Rufford was a fairly small abbey, but moderately wealthy, and one of the first to be

affected by the Dissolution in 1536. It passed firstly into the hands of the Talbot

family and then to the Saviles who built their country estate around the medieval

ruins. Part of the medieval fabric survives where it was incorporated into the grand

house built by the Sixth Earl of Shrewsbury. This includes the West Cloister range,

described by English Heritage as the best preserved among all the Cistercian

abbeys in England (www.english-heritage.org.uk). The later country house boasted

extensive gardens, and many pictures and photographs survive of the 19 th and early

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20th century phase of gardens in particular. The estate was auctioned off in 1938,

and partial demolition carried out in 1956.

Building Phase Period

Cistercian Abbey 12th Century

West Range 14th and 16th Century

North and South Gables Early 17 Century

North and East Wings Late 17 Century

Clock Tower, Grand Staircase, Porch, Causeway 19 Century

Table 1: Showing the main chronological building phases.

4.0 Descript ion of works

The areas proposed for works were in or adjacent to the scheduled area, but away

from the core of the Medieval and later Country House building ranges. The works

are described in the table below, and shown on the accompanying extract fromMagic (Fig 2.)

1. Provision of a new fence around the dying cedar tree on the Abbey Lawn-

required for health and safety reasons to protect public from potential tree

failure.

2. Removal of the post and rail fence to the sheep meadow, replacing the

northern section with knee rail fencing.

3. Provide new hedge boundary to the Arboretum.

4. Provide new palisade fence around shed and storage area within the sheep

meadow.

5. Provision of new specimen trees in the Arboretum

Table 2: Description of works.


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Fig 2: The location of works, itemised numbers refer to Table 2.


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The biggest single area of excavation was for tree pits on land adjacent to the

Scheduled area; the remainder of the works involved planting saplings andexcavating holes for fence posts. The depth and diameter of the excavations

proposed meant that it was unlikely that archaeological remains would be identified

unless they were significantly different from the topsoil, e.g. solid wall foundations.

The archaeological impact of the works was therefore generally assessed as

minimal. Nevertheless, because of the limited understanding of the potential of the

surrounding area to contain archaeology, it was thought best to ensure

archaeological supervision of works, basically to ensure that in fact no buried

remains were encountered.

5.0 Site Insp ection s

The works took place at intervals starting in autumn 2009 and continuing through the

spring and summer of 2010. Ursilla Spence, David Budge and Emily Gillott

supervised the excavations, according to availability. For each element of work

decisions were made as to whether to supervise works continually or intermittently,

and where supervision was undertaken intermittently the site staff were given contact

details to inform the archaeologists of any unusual features or finds uncovered in

their absence. No archaeological features were identified. Across all areas of work

only topsoil was encountered; a brown sandy humic soil with occasional small

pebbles and occasional fragments of tile, brick and other ceramic material.

6.0 Conclus ions

The site inspections identified no archaeological features, probably because of the

limited size of the excavations. Only topsoil was encountered in the supervisedexcavations, with varying degrees of anthropogenic inclusions such as ceramic

building material fragments.

Rufford Abbey Site Inspections 2009 and 2010

Documents

Transcript of Rufford Abbey Site Inspections 2009 and 2010