In June 1998, during preparatory groundworks for a house at 21 Castle Terrace, a medieval church and graveyard was unexpectedly discovered. Emergency works over two to three weeks in July 1998, by The Archaeological Practice, established the part of the outline of an apsidal ended church and an associated graveyard which included several decorated grave slabs.
The plot contains about two thirds of the church, believed to date to c.1150, and which has been robbed of stone down to its first course, and in places to foundation level. It is apparent that there may be earlier phases to the building from the limited work done so far. The excavated area of the church is divided into four cells: an eastern apse, a central chancel, a western nave and an extension to the south of the nave forming a chapel or transept. The foundations of the nave are substantial, up to 1m deep.
The associated graveyard extended to the north, south and east, although its original extent to the west and east is uncertain. Burials are dense throughout the graveyard and was clearly in use over a prolonged period, but had certainly ceased to be in use after c.1350. The surface of the graveyard is largely intact and over 20 grave slabs sit in, or on, the surface. Earlier cist graves and uncoffined burials are visible to a depth of over 1m where the new house foundations have been cut. Several of the grave slabs exposed on the surface are ornately carved and all would seem to date to the 12th or 13th centuries, with some of the undecorated ones possibly of 14th century date.
It has been suggested that this might be the Church of St Mary the Virgin which lay within the parish of Bondington. If so, it was given by King David of Scotland to Durham in exchange for land at Melrose. (1)
Medieval church and graveyard 330m north west of Berwick Castle. Scheduled on 9 May 2001, national monument number 32762.
The monument includes the known extent of the partially excavated upstanding remains and the buried below ground remains of a 12th century church and part of its associated graveyard within the grounds of 21 and 23 Castle Terrace. The site occupies a high cliff above the left bank of the River Tweed where it commands extensive views across the Tweed Valley. The church and graveyard, situated immediately outside the walled medieval town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, are thought to have been abandoned as part of the retreat within the town walls during the Anglo-Scottish wars of the 14th century. A number of churches mentioned in medieval documents are known to have been abandoned in Berwick-upon-Tweed at this time. The remains at Castle Terrace are thought to represent one of three abandoned churches located in the area to the north west of the town; these are the nunnery of St Leonard and the churches of St Lawrence and St Mary. The latter is considered the most likely identification for this site. The eastern two thirds of the church were uncovered and partially excavated in 1998 when its plan was revealed and the nature of its construction examined. This part is visible as the lower courses of the eastern end of the nave, the chancel, the apse end and a small chapel appended to the south eastern corner of the nave.
The visible part of the rectangular nave measures 9.5m east to west by 6.5m within walls which are 2m wide. The walls stand one course high and are constructed of square masonry set on deep foundations of clay bonded river cobbles more than 1.4m deep/. A narrow stone wall 0.9m wide divides the nave along its long axis and is thought to have served as seating. Areas of burning associated with this wall were uncovered by excavation. These contained large quantities of iron nails and glass.
At the eastern end of the nave there is a rectangular chancel 4.5m by 4.2m within walls 1.25m thick, set on foundations similar in nature to the nave. Attached to the eastern end of the chancel there is a semi-circular shaped apse which measures 3m from east to west within walls 1m wide; on the external foot of the apse there are three buttresses 0.6m wide and 0.3m deep and the disturbed remains of a fourth.
Attached to the south eastern corner of the nave there is a rectangular chamber measuring 5.8m by 5.5m which contains the foundations of a stone structure against the eastern wall; this chamber is thought to be the remains of a small chapel with an altar set against its eastern wall. The chamber overlies part of the surrounding graveyard indicating that the chapel was added onto the church at a later date.
The 1998 excavation showed that the nave and chancel have a clay floor. The remains of at least ten graves were identified within the church containing single and multiple burials; two of the burials situated within the chancel were excavated and each contained an almost complete skeleton.
The western part of the medieval church including the western third of the nave survives as a series of buried deposits beneath the present surface of the ground and remains unexcavated. This part of the nave is thought to be about 11.5m long.
Surrounding the remains of the church on all sides, there is an associated medieval graveyard. Areas surrounding the eastern two thirds of the church were uncovered by excavation; within this area the burials are densely packed and a total of 45 graves were identified; two of these graves were excavated to the south of the chancel each containing a single almost complete skeleton. Disturbance to other graves revealed that below the visible, latest layer of burials there were further burials, some contained within stone coffins and some without coffins to a depth of about 1m. The excavators consider that there are at least 400 burials within the graveyard. Many of the graves are covered by medieval stone grave markers ranging from single slabs with a simple decoration to elaborately carved slabs with a wide range of ornate motifs carved onto their surfaces. The style of the decoration and the nature of the motifs on the grave slabs indicate that they are of 11th to 12th century date while some of the plain slabs are thought to be of 14th century date; it is considered that the graveyard had gone out of use by the middle of the 14th century. Several of the graves also retain stone head and foot markers indicating their original size. Large quantities of medieval pottery were recovered from the church and graveyard, much of which is thought to be local in origin and dates from the 12th to the 15th century.
On all sides, the graveyard is thought to extend beyond the limit of the area uncovered in 1998 as graves were discovered to continue up to the limits of the exposed areas, and boundaries indicating the extent of the graveyard were absent. Beyond the exposed areas, the graveyard survives as a series of buried features below the present level of the ground. Newspaper reports in the Berwick Advertiser in March 1941 refer to the discovery of human remains in several different areas of 21 Castle Terrace and when the present house at 23 Castle Terrace was built, immediately to the west of the west end of the church, a human skull was recovered.
Further information about the original extent of the graveyard is contained within a Local Board of Health plan of Berwick-upon-Tweed dated to 1852. This map depicts a large plot of land immediately south of the Duns road; it is thought that the boundaries of this plot reflect an early allotment on the site which contained the church and graveyard. The allotment is bounded on the north by the south side of the Duns road and on the south side by the steep natural break of slope, both of which form the present property boundaries of the eastern half of Castle Terrace. The eastern boundary of the allotment lies 190m east of the remains of the medieval church where it forms the eastern limit of Castle Terrace. The western boundary of the allotment lies in a similar position, although on a slightly different alignment, to the present western property boundary of 23 Castle Terrace.
The medieval church at Castle Terrace, survives reasonably well, and its associated graveyard is very well preserved with little post-medieval disturbance. The church is known to be one of Berwick-upon-Tweed's lost inter-mural churches and will provide important information about its construction, use and adaptation. In addition it will provide an insight into the early medieval town of Berwick as it fluctuated between English and Scottish control. The excellent nature of the survival of the associated graveyard provides a rare opportunity for study of the topography of a medieval graveyard. The burials themselves will provide important information on burial practice and study of skeletal remains will provide a major insight into the medieval population of the town. The ornately carved grave slabs reflect the status of some individuals, and they form an unusual and important collection of medieval carved grave slabs in their own right. (2)
The excavations in 1998 were restricted to establishing the plan of the church and layout of the graveyard by clearing modern disturbance. Most of the topsoil had already been removed by building contractors. This removed early modern deposits but left medieval layers largely intact. The only damage was in the trenches cut for house foundations. The site had last been used as allotments. Excavation showed that there had been some plough damage across the site at some time as there were strike marks on some grave slabs, slight displacement of some slabs, and damage to the church.
It is suggested that the original plan of the church was three cells (aisleless nave, square chancel and eastern apse). Stylistically, it probably dates to between 1125 and 1175. There is no evidence that any phase of the cemetery pre-dates the church and are thought to be contemporary. The stone wall running down the centre of the nave may have been the base of a partially glazed timber feature. The square annexe at the eastern end of the south wall of the nave was a later addition, and was possibly an early form of chantry chapel.
Some 46 inhumations were identified. Twenty lay beneath in-situ grave markers and 26 were identified from gravecuts or partial or complete exposure of an articulated skeleton. No graveyard boundaries were found and it seems likely more burials lie outside the excavated area. The 20 grave markers lay in a cluster to the east and south of the church and ranged from plain mulitple stone covers to elaborately carved pieces with a range of ornate motifs. Some markers had head and foot stones. Only one slab had been distrubed by development on the site. Two cist burials were also found south of the church but there was no evidence of any associated surface grave markers, although they may have been of wood. Two inhumations in the graveyard were excavated as they were most at risk from further work and had already been badly damaged by new foundation cuts. The date of abandonment of the church probably lies in the later 13th century. This is supported by a burial, cut through a demolition layer, and radiocarbon dated to the very late 13th century. (3)