Elstow Abbey was excavated between 1965 and 1972 under the direction of David Baker, in a project sponsored by the Bedford Archaeological Society. Working across large open areas and drawing on a substantial volunteer student labour force, Baker's team investigated the abbey church, the full sequence of claustral buildings, a complex series of outbuildings to the south, and the monastic cemetery.

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The site proved to have a long history of occupation before the Norman foundation. Beneath the abbey church, excavators found evidence of fifth- or sixth-century Saxon cremation burials alongside Roman pottery and coins. A late Saxon Christian cemetery of nearly 270 individuals was also uncovered, representing a substantial pre-monastic burial ground whose associated church was never located. A ninth-century Saxon cross shaft base was found reused as building material in the abbey's east wall.

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The claustral ranges - dormitory, chapter house, refectory, and cellarium - were traced through multiple phases of construction and rebuilding from the Norman period through to the fourteenth century. The most striking development was the chapter house, which by the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century had been extended to a total length of around 88 feet. A major claustral rebuilding in the mid-fourteenth century repositioned the dormitory range, probably in response to persistent subsidence caused by the marshy ground bordering the stream to the south (results of excavation plan bottom left).

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Approximately 90 burials were excavated in the monastic cemetery, located to the east and north of the church, produced approximately 90 burials from the monastic period. The group comprised mainly females, though males and children were also represented. Some individuals were buried in stone coffins; others in wooden ones. 

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ELS215 was buried just to the east of the church, in the first row of the monastic cemetery, in a stone-lined grave (photo top left) This was a place of honour - the easternmost burials, closest to the high altar and the liturgical heart of the community, were reserved for those held in particular esteem. 

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David Baker published three interim reports in the Bedfordshire Archaeological Journal between 1966 and 1971, and a summary article in the Archaeological Journal in 1982. He is now working to bring the excavation to full publication, which will for the first time place the Elstow evidence in its complete regional and monastic context.