The Bones of Towneley Hall

The Findings

Animal bones

A total of 128 artefacts from around the late 12th century to the early 14th century were identified – 124 of these finds were animal bones, followed by a 3 pottery sherds and 1 unidentifiable piece of lead. Many oyster shells were also discovered in the trench, but could not be recovered due to their fragile state.

Following further analysis us, the bones discovered were identified to be made up of:

• Horses
• Cows
• Pigs
• Sheep and/or Goats

The most common bones recovered were cows and sheep/goats. These remains are often indistinguishable between the two species, and so are usually simply grouped together.

In order to identify what was there – as very few bones could be considered to be more than 75% complete – different aspects of the bones had to be identified: such as the shape of their distal and proximal ends, the size of the bones and any other unique characteristics in their taphonomies or pathologies that could be diagnostic.

A large majority of the bones found were limb bones, such as femurs or tibias, alongside other bones like ribs and vertebrae. The distribution of the type of bones found indicates that the bones originated in food or domestic wastage. Similarly, the majority species of animals – cattle and sheep – deposited here, are all known as being a key part of the Medieval diet, and so supports this initial viewpoint.

There were two distinct areas where the finds were very densely packed. We can’t be certain about the intention of these waste piles, but we do know that the bones were deposited during quite a short amount of time before being covered over.

What the animals were used for

As mentioned above, the animals were likely used for food consumption. However, there are other factors and finds that help confirm this as well as adding some nuances to the idea.

There were a handful of bones that had yet to become fully fused to their proximal/distal ends. This means the animal wasn’t fully developed and therefore had to have been relatively young at the time of death. This indicates that the animals were slaughtered for meat, since younger cow meat is generally preferred to that of older cows. Eating younger cattle at this time was more common on wealthier estates. Older cattle would have been able to provide more secondary products – such as traction used to plough fields, or be used for dairy production – before being slaughtered for meat. Less wealthy estates would have utilised their cattle for a period of years, making use of these secondary products, rather than losing out by slaughtering their cattle young.

Many bones also showed evidence of being sawed, cut, chopped or hollowed out. These marks are usually attributed to being from butchery, and are some of the features that indicate this assemblage is primarily food waste. These marks tell us that domestic butchery was taking place, shown by the high amount of meat bearing bones, such as tibias [ref. Colominas et al, 2021] and also that pre-butchered goods weren’t being delivered ‘pre-butchered’ but was prepared on site. This, together with the knowledge of there being an on-site farm, supports the view that Towneley, like other estates across Medieval Lancashire [ref. Pretty, 2026] was at least partially self-sufficient in their production of food goods.

With the various taphonomies noted on different bones – the different chops, cuts and scrapes – a variety of butchering practices can be inferred, such as bone marrow extraction, and skinning. Bone marrow was a staple of people’s diets, both amongst the wealthy and the poorer populations, in Medieval England, as it added flavour and nutrients whilst also reducing waste [ref. Albarella, 2005]. The use of animal pelts was also popular, not only to ensure that all of the animal was utilised, but also in order to create different fabrics for personal use or trade.

Pathologies

As well as finding taphonomies, changes that have occurred to the bone after the death, we also noted some pathologies; changes to the bone that occurred during life.

There seems to be one example of arthritis in one of the vertebra excavated, often indicating an older age in the animal – while this is only example found, it could indicate that this species (assumed to be cow due to the smaller range of species identified) were kept alive for longer than usual for meat production, and instead could have been utilised for breeding or dairy.

There are also examples of extra bony growths on some limb bones excavated. This could be due to a number of reasons, where the body develops extra growths due to certain stressors, such as a response to illness. It is most often seen in areas of the body where a lot of strength is being used and supports larger muscles. Although ploughing fields was not common on large manor estates, they tended to focus on pastoralism, it was still possible, and this could indicate ploughing taking place on the estate. Further explanation of animal usage on the estate is explored below.

Teeth

A small number of teeth and part of a mandible (jaw bone) were also buried amongst the bones, and were identified to originating from sheep/goats and cows. The majority of the teeth are molars or premolars, which is extremely useful for identifying the age that an animal died. It can’t be done on every tooth, but one interesting thing about the molars and pre molars in some domestic animals is that you can estimate their age from the amount they have been worn down using specialist charts and conversions.

The Sheep/Goat Teeth:

Domestic sheep can live between 10-12 years naturally, so the age estimation here is not too surprising. However, within the meat industry, 6-8 years is considered to be very old. Mutton is typically gained from sheep between 3-5 years old, whilst veal is derived from lambs, so this age range presents a new example of sheep/goat usage during this period: wool production.

In terms of slaughtering for meat, the age of this sheep is older than usual in the Medieval period. Following further research, we identified that during the same period, Wethers (castrated male sheep with denser wool than any other sheep) were often kept alive for longer within flocks for their wool to be utilised – with clear examples stemming from the Winchester Estate [ref. Page, 2003].

The Cow Teeth:

Cattle were used for a variety of jobs in the Medieval period in England – meat, dairy, leather production and manual labour. For this individual – aged 8-18 months – the most realistic use would be for meat production. While slaughtering at this age produces the most tender meat, it also had practical uses as well – by culling some young cows (as well as others of different ages) in a herd around the winter period, it decreases the amount of resources being utilised in the winter months, while at the same time providing meat to sell or be consumed by the house [ref. Hartman, 2001].

Horn Cores

Within the bones recovered in the excavation were horn cores – these are the internal bony structures of horns on cows, sheep/goats and antelopes, that are then covered with a thick layer of keratin, the same material our nails are made what our human nails made of. These were likely disposed, along with the teeth, not as food waste, but as general waste.

While they have been identified as general waste at Towneley, we know from other estates in the Medieval period that they were in fact used in a variety of different ways. One use was drainage, a little ironic as they were found during drainage works! They would be tightly lined up together in the ground to form a tube, helping direct and drain water. Horn core was also used to make various domestic items, such as cups, spoons and combs, examples of which can be seen in the museum collections at Towneley [ref. Bourgeois, 2021], and in the tannery trade (leather processing – [ref. Yeomans, 2008].

At the Towneley estate, horn cores do not seem to have been used for any kind of drainage or working, but instead discarded along with the other waste at the time – the pottery, teeth, and various bones.

Pottery

Whilst most of the artefacts were bones, 3 pottery sherds and a piece of unidentified lead was balso amongst the artefacts excavated. Whilst 2 of the 3 pottery sherds were unidentifiable, one was discovered to be Early Medieval Grimston wear, produced between 1080-1400 CE. The unidentified pottery is assumed to be modern or post-medieval, from around1450 CE onwards.

Early medieval Grimston wear originated in West Norfolk in the 11th century and was manufactured until around the 15th century [ref. Leah, 1994]. Grimston wear was a popular style of pottery, it was a dark, greyish clay finished with an olive green glaze. The sherd found at Towneley was most likely from either a jug or a pitcher. Considering the wealth of the Towneley estate, this could have been an imported piece, travelling a long way to Lancashire, but it could also have been produced more locally to Burnley. This style of pottery was so popular and commonly made it could have originated from almost anywhere. Unfortunately, with such a small fragment, it’s unlikely we will ever know its specific origins, or how it came to Towneley and ended up on the discard pile.

Each of the other pottery sherds, and the unidentified lead piece, have been determined to be more modern in production. Given the limited time of our placement we decided not to focus on these finds, given their age it is unlikely they would provide more context to the wider collection of finds.

Oyster shelIt wasn’t only bones that were found, but oyster shells too! We know that the inhabitants of Towneley must have been quite wealthy, the evidence of them having ate oysters helped to solidify this. Oysters themselves in the Medieval Period were not seen to be particularly expensive or hard to source, but they had to be transported live in order to keep them fresh and edible [ref. Thomas et al, 2020]. Travel in Medieval England relied upon a series of routes, known as packhorse routes. These were often poorly sustained roads over difficult terrain, covering up to around 30 miles a day. Blackpool is 43 miles from Towneley Hall, and the Royal Albert Dock 55 miles away, the oysters would have to have been transported quickly and carefully to ensure their safe delivery.

Additionally, oysters being present within this time period also provides a wider context of the time. In 1349, Lancashire was hit by the Black Death. Although Towneley’s consumption of oysters seems unrelated to this, similar finds from the period were identified at Dudley Castle. Rather than highlighting the Hall’s want for coastal food, it instead showed how more noble families were able to diversify their food, at a time where livestock numbers were being drastically impacted and reduced.

Production and Wider Trade

The archeological finds have allowed us to identify Towneley Hall as an estate which was at least partially self-sufficient. If all of the pathologies and taphonomies identified on the bones (the extra bone growths, butchery slices and unfused shafts) were from activities undertaken at Towneley, then there is strong evidence for a variety of production practices being undertaken on site. This includes the production of dairy, meat and wool, as well as some ploughing and crop cultivation. It was very common during the Medieval period for larger estates to work as production centres for their local towns, and so these finds from Towneley show that it worked similarly to other manors across the country.

While it cannot be confirmed from the finds alone, it can be assumed that the goods developed on site did not stay solely on-site. The goods would have been traded outside of the estate grounds, into the town of Burnley and the wider economy. Burnley was granted their Royal Market Charter in 1294, and so the ability to trade in a market setting was in place during the period these artefacts originated (the late 12th-14th centuries), potentially indicating one driving motive for these production systems to take place outside of just providing for the inhabitants of the manor.

Basic wool, meat and dairy products would have been produced at Towneley, with any surplus being traded at the market in Burnley and exchanged for more intricately manufactured and imported goods. The Grimston Ware sherd, for example, with its West Norfolk origins, could be an example of one of these exchanges.

The information gathered from these archeological finds about production on site and potential trade shows that the people living at Towneley were not isolated but strongly tied to the Medieval town town of Burnley and the wider economy. This contribution may have been a large contributor to the development of Burnley’s Market, economic growth and Industrial roots.

Glossary:

• Proximal – the end of a bone closest to the centre of the body
• Distal – the end of a bone furthest from the centre of the body
• Contexts – the different layers identified in archaeological excavations
• Taphonomy – changes identified on bones that occurred after the death of the animal or individual
• Pathology – changes identified on bones that occurred during the life of the animal or individual
• Assemblage – a group of artefacts
• Mandible – The lower part of the jaw
• Pelt – the skin of an animal
• Sherd – a small part of an item of pottery

Further Reading/Bibliography

Albarella, U. (2005) Meat consumption and production in town and country. In: Giles, K. and Dyer, C., (eds.) Town and Country in the Middle Ages: Contrasts, Contacts and Interconnections, 1100-1500. Society for Medieval Archaeology Monograph (22). Maney, Leeds, pp. 131-148. ISBN: 1904350283.

Bourgeois, L. 2021. Practical and symbolic uses of the medieval horn: from the object of power to ordinary instrument. Fletcher, Christopher. Everyday political objects from the Middle Ages to the Contemporary World. Routledge, pp.30-47

Colominas, L., Castanyer, P., Frigola, J., & Tremoleda, J. (2021). What Happened in That Pit? An Archaeozoological and GIS Approach to Study an Accumulation of Animal Carcasses at the Roman Villa of Vilauba (Catalonia). Animals : an open access journal from MDPI, 11(8), 2214.

Hartman, R (2001). The Medieval Agricultural Year. Strange Horizons. Available at: https://strangehorizons.com/wordpress/non-fiction/articles/the-medieval-agricultural-year/

Leah, M. 1994. ‘The Late Saxon and Medieval Pottery Industry of Grimston, Norfolk: Excavations 1962–92’, East Anglian Archaeology, 64.

Lyman, R.L. (2002) Vertebrate taphonomy. Cambridge, England ; Cambridge University Press. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139878302.

Marom, N. 2025. Current methods and theory in quantitative zooarchaeology. Journal of Archaeological Science, 176.

Page, M. (2003). The technology of medieval sheep farming: some evidence from Crawley, Hampshire, 1208–1349. The Agricultural History Review, 51(2), pp. 137–154.

Pretty, J, N. 2026. Sustainable Agriculture in the Middle Ages: The English Manor. The Agricultural History Review, vol. 38, no. 1, 1990, pp. 1–19

Thomas, R. et al. (2020) The Changing Exploitation of Oysters (Ostrea edulis L. 1758) in Late Medieval and Early Modern England: A Case Study from Dudley Castle, West Midlands. Environmental Archaeology, 25(1), pp. 82–95. doi: 10.1080/14614103.2018.1563373.

Yeomans, L. 2008. Historical and zooarchaeological evidence of horn-working in post-medieval London. Post-Medieval Archaeology, 42(1), pp. 130–143