Sempringham Priory, Lincolnshire

English Heritage summaries. 2003/2004

Sempringham Priory, the mother house of the Gilbertine order, is situated on the western fen edge between Sleaford and Bourne, in Lincolnshire. The priory site has no standing remains, only eroded earthworks and is in intensive cultivation.  Some 95% of the general site environs and 100% of the scheduled area are under intensive arable agriculture.

Geophysical Survey and fieldwalking on a five metre grid were undertaken on the site of the Priory and its precinct, a post-suppression house, the roads, the fishponds and the known extent of the adjacent Sempringham DMV. Broadly, the primary aims were to characterise the changes of use of the area through time, locate the buildings and associated areas such as cemeteries and to provide baseline research for future management and research.

Fieldwalking resulted in the collection of some 47,000 objects, an assemblage not yet fully categorised but dating from the prehistoric to post medieval periods. The village site showed continuous occupation from the Early Saxon to medieval periods while Saxon finds from the monastery site suggest a possible precursor. Ploughing at depth prior to the fieldwalking brought to the surface stone blocks and enabled walls to be plotted and enabled the identification of buildings in the outer precinct set around smaller courtyards and along the southern boundary, including a possible gatehouse.

This page was published on 14/11/2007