Overview

The Cistercian monastery of St Mary Stratford Langthorne once stood on land south of the new Jubilee Line station at Stratford. Excavations 1973-94 recorded large parts of the monastic church, cemetery and related buildings. Topics include the precinct arrangement, architecture and decoration, and the way of life of the inhabitants. The expansion of the monastic church from a simple cruciform building in the mid 12th century into an aisled presbytery with ambulatory and eastern chapel in the 13th century is notable. The excavated burials (647) are the largest sample from a Cistercian site in Europe and provide evidence for burial customs, patterns of cemetery use and the physical characteristics of the population, including medical care.

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9781901992380

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When Stratfords burials are correlated with the documentary evidence from the late Middle Ages, unexpected features of Cistercian life emerge. They include the monks practice of renting out parts of the precinct to laypeople, some of them married couples. Such material allows for the emergence of a clearer picture of monastic life in the often shrouded last two centuries of the orders existence.'--Peter Fergusson Speculum (01/01/0001)

When Stratfords burials are correlated with the documentary evidence from the late Middle Ages, unexpected features of Cistercian life emerge. They include the monks practice of renting out parts of the precinct to laypeople, some of them married couples. Such material allows for the emergence of a clearer picture of monastic life in the often shrouded last two centuries of the orders existence.'-- (01/01/2007)

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by Bruno Barber, Steve Chew, Tony Dyson and Bill White

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