Churches and Chapels
- In what ways did church design in the region evolve over the medieval period?
- How did medieval liturgical practice influence the physical form of chapels and churches?
- How were church interiors furnished and decorated?
- What can we discover about liturgical objects (e.g. reliquaries, crosses, chalices, lecterns)?
- What statues and other images were present in churches and chapels?
- Can we learn more about small chapels, including their use and design?
- To what extent did South East Scotland’s medieval churches and chapels reflect wider European trends in liturgy and ecclesiastical architecture?
- Is there evidence for growing Marian devotion at religious sites in South East Scotland during the medieval period?
- To what extent was religious space clearly delineated / separated from wider secular activities?
- Is there evidence of trading and recreational activities taking place in churchyards?
- How did the Reformation change churches and chapels?
Monastic Sites
- How did the region’s monastic sites evolve over the medieval period?
- To what extent did the arrival of new religious orders in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries change land management?
- Is there evidence for monastic change or ‘decline’ in the century preceding the Reformation?
- What evidence is there for sixteenth-century iconoclasm and destruction of monastic sites?
- How did damage from conflict in the 1540s compare to damage during the Reformation of 1560?
- Can we better understand female monastic sites? How do female religious houses compare to male houses?
- What evidence is there for industrial activity at monastic sites?
- Is there evidence of parchment production at monastic sites?
- What can we discover about monastic gardens?
- How did monastic sites affect wider landscapes (e.g. mills, granges, roads)?
- What evidence is there for occupation of monastic sites after 1560?
Hospitals and Poorhouses
- How large were most hospital sites?
- Did the design of hospitals in South East Scotland alter over the course of the medieval period?
- Are changes in the use of hospitals (e.g. shifting from the care of lepers to care of the poor) apparent in the archaeological record?
- What can we discover about care for the infirm at hospitals and poorhouses?
- What sorts of activities were taking place at hospitals (e.g. gardening, food preparation, craft activities)?
- How did hospitals interact with surrounding communities?
Wider Religious Landscapes
- What types of pilgrim activities were taking place at cult centres such as Loretto?
- Where did pilgrim routes run in South East Scotland (both to cult sites within the region and to more distant pilgrim centres)?
- What was pilgrim accommodation like?
- To what extent can we discern popular ritual activity at sites such as wells?
- What can we discover about the routes of religious processions? To what extent did processional routes impact the layout of settlements?
Burials
- How did burial customs in South East Scotland evolve over the course of the Middle Ages?
- To what extent do funerary monuments conform to national / international trends? Are there specific local / regional variations?
- How similar were rural and urban burial practices?
- How comparable were the burials of clerics and laity?
- Are there notable physical differences between people buried in higher and lower status locations (e.g. were people buried inside churches less malnourished than the general population)?