Rediscovering ‘The Church by the Water’ - Excavations at Lindores Abbey

Lindores Abbey was founded in the late 12th century by David, Earl of Huntingdon, as a daughter house of Kelso on the eastern side of the burgh of Newburgh along the Tay estuary in Fife. The monastery sat within a vibrant regional medieval monastic and sacred landscape that included the cathedral chapter and pilgrimage centre at St Andrews, and Cistercian Balmerino Abbey and Elcho Priory. Lindores was one of four Scottish monastic communities associated with a lesser-known monastic movement promoted by the abbey of Tiron in France between the 12th and the 16th centuries. The creation of Lindores Distillery in 2017 was predicated by the indication of payment to Lindores for ‘eight bols of malt’ to make aqua vitae, or whisky, in 1494 – making Lindores the earliest recorded place to produce whisky in Scotland.

2024 saw the first season of the University of St Andrews Monastic Archaeology Field School at Lindores Abbey. As Scheduled Monument Consent was not obtained in time for that season four trenches were opened outside the protected area but within the monastic precinct. In 2025 the team were finally able to explore the scheduled area and opened a further six trenches. This talk by Lead Archaeologist Derek Hall will consider the challenges of working on and adjacent to both a Scheduled Monument and an operational distillery while also operating a field school and will aim to summarise the results so far and their implications for future seasons.

About the speaker

Derek Hall studied at the Dorset Institute of Higher Education, Weymouth where he gained a Certificate in Practical Archaeology (graduating in 1978). From 1976 to 1980 he worked on archaeological sites throughout Scotland and England, including one of the first urban rescue excavations in Scotland in advance of the Elgin Relief road.

In 1980 he joined the Urban Archaeology Unit, the predecessor of SUAT. From 1982-1985 he was a Senior Supervisor for SUAT on several major excavations before being appointed Field Officer. In 1996 he was seconded to Historic Scotland as an Inspector of Ancient Monuments, before returning to SUAT as Depute Director until its demise in 2009. He has extensive research interests in Scottish Medieval Pottery, medieval hospitals, medieval religious houses and monastic granges and was responsible for the fieldwork elements of Stirling University’s Scottish Medieval Deer parks project. He is currently Editor of the TAFAC journal and was formerly editor of Medieval Ceramics (annual journal of the Medieval Pottery Research Group). He currently operates as an independent archaeological contractor. Since Season 1 in 2024 he has been the Lead Archaeologist for the University of St Andrews Monastic Field School at Lindores Abbey in Fife.

The talk will take place in Lecture Theatre 2, Dalhousie Building, University of Dundee and will start at 6.30pm with refreshments served from 6pm. Admission is free - donations requested from non-members.

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