DISCOVERY: Archaeologists solve mystery of 'bowling alley' under Yorkshire abbey

Weekends are made to break up the week, so I'm taking a weeked break from the Greece Trip blogs to turn to another interesting topic: Archaeology. In today's blog you'll read about the true purpose of a Medieval structure hidden beneath Fountains Abbey.

Archaeologists and students from the University of Bradford have studied the Fountains Abbey site since 2014 with non-invasive archaeological techniques, such as ground-penetrating radar.  Image credit: Visualising Heritage, University of Bradford )

Archaeologists solve mystery of 'bowling alley' under Yorkshire abbey 

LIVE SCIENCE, By Tom Metcalfe 11/10/21

One of the most tranquil spots in England — the spectacular ruins of Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire — was a hubbub of industrial activity in its heyday during the medieval period, according to new research.

Archaeologists have discovered that the mysterious underground "bowling alley" structure just to the east of the ruined abbey is the buried remains of a medieval tannery, where monks and lay brothers processed animal hides into leather — a major profit-making center that would have employed hundreds of people.

"This changes the perception of the site," archaeologist Chris Gaffney of the University of Bradford in England told Live Science. Although the modern view is of beautiful abbey ruins, "actually it was an area that was very much focused on industry, quite noisy and quite smelly."

Gaffney and his colleagues have explored the ruins of Fountains Abbey since 2014, often using them to train archaeological students in non-invasive mapping techniques like magnetic surveys and ground-penetrating radar.

The long bowling alley-shaped structure was first detected a few years ago in a geophysical survey, which detected minute changes in the Earth's magnetic field that revealed where the buried ground had been disturbed in the past, Gaffney said.

Now, recent work with ground-penetrating radar has established that the tannery once covered the entire width of the valley floor around the abbey, according to a statement from the university.

It included two substantial stone buildings, one of them at least 100 feet (30 meters) long and more than a single story tall, with lined pits, tanks and other structures around them. The buildings were also beside the River Skell that still runs through the valley, which would have provided the water needed by the tannery, the statement said.

Fountains Abbey was founded in A.D. 1132 by 13 Benedictine monks who had been expelled from an abbey in the city of York after a riot there.

FULL STORY: https://www.livescience.com/bowling-alley-structure-medieval-abbey-mystery?utm_source=SmartBrief&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=368B3745-DDE0-4A69-A2E8-62503D85375D&utm_content=C4FEF25F-04CA-4C2C-9CC3-D0EEE3BA25EF&utm_term=cb486bd9-5e56-49fc-869b-ea0dd0662c29