Leiston Abbey: Dig Ventures archaeologists in 'hospital find'

The infirmary foundations were revealed by the reversed L-shaped mark in the neighbouring field - next to the hedge on the right

Archaeologists believe they have found the remains of a hospital in the grounds of a ruined abbey on the Suffolk coast.

More than 120 people paid to take part in the crowd-funded dig at Leiston Abbey, Suffolk during the summer.

Dig Ventures is carrying out the work with approval from Historic England.

The archaeology company has found what it believes to be the foundations of an infirmary in a farmer's field neighbouring the site.

Dig Ventures has been been carrying out summer digs at the ruined abbey site since 2013

More than 120 people paid to join the crowd-funded project run by Dig Ventures in 2015

The abbey was founded by the Roman Catholic Premonstratensian order at nearby Minsmere in 1182 before moving to Leiston in 1363.

It was suppressed in 1536 during Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries.

Community care

It is the third year Dig Ventures has held a crowd-funded project at the abbey and previous years have unearthed artefacts including an earspoon, gambling chip and curse tablet.

Maiya Pina-Dacier, community manager for Dig Ventures, said: "We were focussing on looking for foundations of lost buildings and we found the infirmary by sending a drone in the air.

"In the neighbouring field, there was differing crop growth creating a reversed L-shape where the foundations were and then we dug down to find them.

"It gives us evidence of life at the abbey and shows they were caring for people from the local community, although often they would expect parcels of land in return, but we haven't found evidence that was the case here."

The abbey ruins are between the town of Leiston and Sizewell nuclear power stations, which you can see on the Suffolk coast

The team said that, based on evidence from similar sites, infirmaries were usually based in positions away from the main abbey, so they were confident it was the hospital.

They had not found any medical artefacts at the dig, so were unable to confirm what sort of treatments were available.

Dig Ventures plans to return to the site or to the original Minsmere location in 2016, pending approval from Historic England.