Romsey professor spots archaeology at Mottisfont National Trust uncovered by the heatwave

Romsey archaeologist Professor Roger Leech spotted historic outlines of buried walls in the barren grass at Mottisfont National Trust site. Following a recent report on impact of the heatwave of National Trust grounds like Mottisfont, the archaeologist and member of Romsey Local History Society found a “positive spin”.

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The Professor said: “Visible in the parched grass are the lines of various buried walls, the long-disappeared parts of the mansion of the Sandys family constructed around the buildings of Mottisfont Priory purchased in the reign of Henry VIII, the church of the priory forming the main part of the surviving present-day house.

“Closest to the house are the walls of the cloister and the buildings around it – chapter house, dormitory and refectory. Further away is a second courtyard, probably the infirmary or hospital of the priory with its own refectory and dormitory.”

The remains are visible in the drier summers at Mottisfont. Plans between archaeologists and volunteers at Mottisfont to publicise the discoveries and recent archaeological work at the site have been delayed from before the pandemic.

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Mr Leech continued: “Parchmarks have also been visible in the parched grass to the south of Romsey Abbey, noted first by former churchwarden David Johnson and the subject of much interest by members of the Romsey Local History Society.”

Roger along with fellow members Ronnie Munday and Mary Harris believe that the wall showing up is the boundary wall of the garden show and visible on the Ordnance Survey map of 1867. In comparison to Mottisfont, the cloister of Romsey Abbey churchyard is too deeply buried to be visible, even with the drier landscape.