A decorated floor tile from the evaluation
	Excavation of the cemetary

The former Express Lift factory, which includes the well-known lift tower, was due to be redeveloped for housing by The Lifebuilding Company. As the site was known to occupy part of the precinct of the former Augustinian Abbey of St. James a programme of documentary research and trial excavation was carried out in late 1999 and early 2000 to determine what remained of the abbey buildings. Having located parts of the abbey and a cemetery, the main buildings were preserved beneath the new housing development while the cemetery containing nearly 300 burials was totally excavated over the winter of 2000-2001. Since then the bones from these burials have been under analysis to help paint a portrait of the state of health and burial practices in the late medieval population of Northampton.

The History of the Abbey
The abbey was founded by William Peveral in 1104-5 and dissolved in 1538. Details of the abbey’s history are recorded in numerous surviving documents. At first the abbey must have been housed in temporary timber buildings, as it was only in 1173 that they could first worship in their new stone church. In 1229 an order from Henry III provided two oaks towards the building of a tower for the church, and in 1268 they received a grant for the holding of an annual fair to celebrate the feast of St. James. The abbey church was rebuilt during the reign of Edward I, and was probably completed by 1310 when two altars were dedicated. There are records of several people of rank seeking interment within the abbey church, including Sir John Catesby in 1485 and Richard Woodville, Earl Rivers in 1491. The abbey was originally endowed with 40 acres of land in Duston, the church of Duston and the mill. Subsequently they held churches in numerous local villages and received rents in about thirty parishes. In addition, the king granted the abbey properties that had been held by the Jews up to their banishment in 1290.

The abbey was dissolved in 1538, when the Abbot, Prior and four Canons surrendered their house with all its possessions to the king, and in return were awarded pensions. The monastic lands were soon granted to Nicholas Giffard of Duston. He built a mansion on the abbey lands, no doubt using stone obtained from the demolition of the abbey buildings. As the recent archaeological work has shown, he did such a thorough job in levelling the buildings that all knowledge of their exact whereabouts had been lost. All that survived into the 17th century was the great tithe barn and some of the lesser farm buildings, and parts of the precinct wall that were still standing at the end of the 19th century. The site of the main abbey buildings was later known as the Fairyard Close, and it may be that after the Dissolution the fair of St James was held on the roughly levelled, derelict ground where the old abbey buildings had stood. In the 18th century the fair was moved into the town. As a result of the levelling of the major buildings in the later 16th century, none survived to be recorded in the growing antiquarian interest of the 17th and 18th centuries. Before the recent excavations the only clues were provided by chance finds of decorated stonework and burials during building works at the Lift factory through the 20th century.

Trial Trenching
Trial trench evaluation around the buildings and beneath the floor of the main factory in late 1999 and early 2000 established the presence of significant remains of the Augustinian Abbey of St James’s, including the location of the abbey church and a cemetery.

The Watching Brief
Having located the abbey buildings, it was decided that raising the ground level by a metre would largely preserve the site of the abbey church and the ranges set around the cloister to its south. However, removal of the foundations of the factory buildings and major service trenches for the new development enabled the building arrangement to be further defined. Remains of the abbey walls could be seen in the sides of the trenches as the recent building walls and the World War II air raid shelters were dug out. The abbey church was found to be 76m (250 feet) long by 19m (62 feet) wide, but apparently was of a basilica form without transepts. The cloister was located, and part of the chapter house was exposed, with a mortar floor that may well have been formerly tiled, and two stone-lined tombs with plain slab covers.