Back to Lindores Abbey!

Paige Hutcheson (MAFS Student 2025, MAFS Intern 2026; Student at the University of Virginia)

The Lindores Season 3 Prep Week crew on site (Paige second from left)

After participating in the Monastic Archaeology Field School as a student last year, I have returned to site as an intern. Lindores Abbey is such a beautiful site to return to. The trenches had been within the Abbey, so I’m excited to see what we find near the orchards and by the gate out towards the Tay. Prep week with the team before the students arrived was fun and showed me a bit of the behind-the-scenes setup before the archaeology began. We catalogued all of the tools and gear in storage and on site before organizing everything into bins for the trenches and boxes for the students. For the first time, the University of St Andrews School of History attended the local History in the Park event over the first weekend of June, where we helped teach school groups and the general public about archaeology. We had multiple stations where we encouraged hands-on learning about how archaeologists dig, how to sieve for finds, what those finds can tell us about past peoples, and the inner workings of the human skeleton for a bit of osteology. This event was a huge success and a great closeout to this year’s prep week!

Paige preparing for our third-season archaeology & history students

Getting to know this year’s group of students and seeing them experience the site and lectures for the first time has already been rewarding. Everyone has been enthusiastic about both the lectures and spending time in the trenches, learning new skills and gaining a better understanding of how Lindores Abbey operated. For instance, they took advantage of the landscape and water flow, which Derek Hall discussed on the water walk from Abroath Abbey, past the monastery, and down to the Tay. I’ve enjoyed helping them learn their way around the site and with any questions they’ve had. Despite the variety of weather within the first week, including sun, clouds, wind, rain, and even hail over the span of a few hours, this year’s group has remained resilient and eager to dig and learn regardless of the conditions. 

This field season, I’m working on a vertical plan of a Lindores Abbey wall that houses two sinks with a drain beneath them. Last year, I enjoyed learning to draw plans and sections of the trenches, even helping other trenches to record theirs before backfill day at the end.  I’m excited to expand my plan drawing skills to include building recording and also to help teach the students how to draw on both 1:10 and 1:20 scales. We’ve already had multiple visits from the site’s feline supervisors, Friar John Claw and Vesper, and hope they’ll continue to hang around for the rest of the field school.

It’s great to be back, and I can’t wait to see what the next few weeks of excavation will hold!