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Two medieval wells were excavated to the west of the stone building. The first was unlined and
consisted of a circular shaft cut into the natural. It silted up over a long period of time before being
deliberately recently infilled. Finds from the lower fill indicate a later thirteenth or fourteenth century
date for the well’s primary silting. The second was stone-lined and constructed in a circular shaft,
1.4m in diameter at the top, 1.05m in diameter at the bottom, and cut to a depth of 1.55m. A square
well faced with stone blocks was constructed within the circular shaft and a posthole on the west side
of the well may have supported a post of a wooden superstructure. The well was not earlier than the
thirteenth century with silting occurring in the later fourteenth and fifteenth centuries before its final
blocking early in the post-medieval period. Finds from the fill of the well included a granite quern
stone, the fragmentary remains of a medieval basket, souterrain ware and sherds of medieval wares.
The finds from the occupation phase of the building and its associated midden included quantities of
souterrain ware and a wide range of native and imported medieval fine wares, indicating that its
inhabitants was people of important status. Two secondary walls were also excavated and appear to
be the foundations of a lean-to structure added to the main building. A paved area between the two
walls may have been related to this later phase of occupation. A certain amount of slag was found in
the medieval levels, but these may well have been redeposited early medieval debris; and the animal
remains were the same as they were in the early medieval period, indicating no major change in diet.
The large building may have fallen out of use by the early fourteenth century when its masonry was
robbed. However, occupation continued elsewhere on the site with the dumping of an organic layer of
domestic refuse over the ruins of the large, now abandoned, building. This organic deposit was
identical to, and represented an extension of the midden heap, which had long existed on the north
side of the building. Considerable quantities of bone, souterrain ware pottery, later thirteenth and
fourteenth century medieval wares and artefacts were recovered from this layer. A steep-sided, flatbottomed
ditch was later excavated in the fourteenth century, blocking a small doorway into the
abandoned stone building, but was backfilled shortly afterwards.
The excavated area appears to have been open, even waste land, during the fourteenth century. The
two wells were still in use but were silting up and the micro-fauna found within the waterlogged
levels of one of the wells confirm this ‘sort of open, little used environment, though probably with
some adjacent human activity’ (Ivens 1984, 74). Finds of painted glass and lead closing strips from
this destruction horizon indicate that the nearby abbey was also in a state of decay in the fourteenth
century. There was little evidence for occupation after the fourteenth century and it appears that the
excavated area was taken into agricultural use in this period. A rough patch of cobbling overlay the
midden heap to the north of the large building and may relate to some building activity connected
with the church in the fifteenth century. Also, uncovered was a steep-sided, flat-bottomed postmedieval
field drain running across the eastern side of the excavated area. Other than these there
were few finds of a similar date and it is possible that the construction of the modern buildings had
destroyed most of the evidence for late- and post-medieval occupation in the area.
For most of its history, this small area of Movilla Abbey appears to have been peripheral to the main
area of human activity. Late Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age flint scatters indicate some
intermittent occupation of the area in the prehistoric period. During the early medieval period, the
area appears to have been at the edge of the ecclesiastical enclosure and was used primarily for
industrial purposes. This part of the abbey also appears to have been more or less abandoned by the
fourteenth century and afterwards used for agriculture. Only in the thirteenth century during the use
of the large stone building does this area appear to have been used primarily for residential purposes.
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