Combining Ground Penetrating Radar Data With Historical Research: The Scottish Royal Benedictine Abbey of Dunfermline

Abstract

Like many buildings of historical importance, Scotland's royal abbey of Dunfermline, Fife, has undergone frequent changes in its structure from its initial establishment through its growth under royal favour, partial destruction inspired by religious reformation followed by a period of use as a relatively open access site up until the construction of the present Georgian Abbey Church over the footings of the destroyed medieval choir. As a result of the site's chequered history over ten centuries, it was initially thought that Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey would not prove useful in providing an insight into the wealth of missing information from its medieval past. From the perspective of the Abbey's curators, the lack of visible evidence of its rich past could be explained but not illustrated to researchers or other visitors. Further considerations included that it would be impossible to excavate in order to confirm the survey data as the current Abbey Church is in use as a parish church, that space available for survey was limited due to areas of fixed pews, and the possible effects of groundwater and pitch on transmission velocity and signal attenuation. This project used close line spacing and two frequencies of antenna to optimise target definition and detection depth of the extant remains using GPR. These data were then compared with a wide range of historical sources and the known layout of comparable Benedictine abbey choirs. It has proved possible to establish the outline and extent of the medieval choir, to retrieve evidence of some of the elite burials, parts of the interior layout and to partially define which subsurface anomalies are potentially of medieval date. Not every interpretation carries the same degree of certainty, but future historical research may assist with this. The Abbey Church and partner Historic Environment Scotland are making use of the GPR data for illustration of the site's historical importance to its many visitors.