| Title: |
Watching Brief at St Giles Church, Cropwell Bishop, Nottinghamshire |
| Series: |
Network Archaeology unpublished report series
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| Downloads: |
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networka2-520302_215873.pdf (3 MB)
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| Biblio Note |
This report was uploaded to the OASIS system by the named Publisher. The report has been transferred into the ADS Library for public access and to facilitate future research.
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| Licence Type: |
ADS Terms of Use and Access
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| DOI |
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| Publication Type: |
Report (in Series)
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| Abstract: |
The proposed groundworks consisted of the removal of the existing church flooring, the reduction of sub-floor deposits, the installation of new under-floor heating and the creation of new floors within the church building. All groundworks were undertaken under a Grant of Faculty issued for the works by the Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham’s Registry. The groundworks took place in the western part of the church, with the eastern limit of excavation roughly corresponding with a line running from eastern side of the southern porch to the opposite doorway in the northern wall of the church (See figure 3 in the report). The excavation area included part of the north aisle, the nave and part of the south aisle. The existing flooring in this area consisted of modern concrete (north aisle) raised timber flooring and tiles of probable 19th century date (nave) and Yorkstone slabs laid in the 1950s (south aisle). Following removal of the pews, font and flooring in the development area, excavations continued to a depth of 0.28m below existing floor level, this being the formation level required for the installation of the new underfloor heating system and new floor. The archaeological monitoring confirmed that the sub-floor deposits in the western end of the church were mostly of modern date, representing disturbance and levelling works associated with the insertion of 19th century wooden and tile floors, heating systems and the later 20th century re-laying of the Yorkstone flag flooring. Nevertheless, some features of archaeological interest survived within the excavation area. The archaeological monitoring revealed one inhumation burial (108, 107) which was encountered at a depth of 0.43m below the existing church floor level. The burial was isolated and it is possible that it pre-dates the present 13th century church. However ,this cannot be confirmed, as the burial was not excavated due to being situated below the formation level of the current development (0.28m below existing floor level). Any future work within the church should expect to encounter further inhumation burials at around the same level (circa 0.40m below exiting floor level). Several features of archaeological interest were encountered during the archaeological monitoring. The first of these was the foundation raft for the existing font (118), together with the font soakaway drain (124, 119, 126) that was situated immediately below the foundation. Leaving aside the possibilities that these structures were built for an earlier font, or that the present font has been moved from its original location at some point, then they clearly date at the latest to the installation of the present font in the 14th century. Two further stone-built structures (110=109 and 114) were also recorded. These butted the standing columns of the southern and norther arcades respectively, and so post-date the mid-13th century construction of the arcades. Given their construction similarities with font raft 118, it is likely that these structures represent floor foundations which were constructed in the 14th century. A final feature of interest was the brick-built heating flue 122. This feature pre-dated the more elaborate Victorian heating system (125, 123) and presumably dates to the addition of the boiler house to the northern side of the church. |
| Author: |
Nigel Cavanagh
Mike Wood
Jacqui Hutton
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| Publisher: |
Network Archaeology Ltd
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| Other Person/Org: |
Nottinghamshire HER (OASIS Reviewer)
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| Year of Publication: |
2023
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| Locations: |
| District: |
Rushcliffe |
| Country: |
England |
| Parish: |
Cropwell Bishop |
| County: |
Nottinghamshire |
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Grid Reference: 468476, 335521 (Easting, Northing)
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| Subjects / Periods: |
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| Identifiers: |
| OASIS Id: |
networka2-520302 |
| Report id: |
23009 |
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| Source: |
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| Relations: |
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| Created Date: |
11 Apr 2024 |
