Macnab, N. and McComish, J. M. (2001). St. Oswald's Church, Farnham, North Yorkshire. Report on an Archaeological Watching Brief (61). York Archaeology.

Title:

St. Oswald's Church, Farnham, North Yorkshire. Report on an Archaeological Watching Brief (61)

Number of Pages:

Biblio Note

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Publication Type:

Report

Abstract:

An archaeological watching brief was maintained at St. Oswald's Church. The works observed included the excavation of drainage channels around the chancel and the west end of the church, the grading down of the graveyard to the north and east of the chancel, the excavation of two soakaways and associated drain to the south-east of the church in the old graveyard and to the west of the church in the new graveyard. The watching brief was of limited value in adding to the understanding of the church fabric. Only four tiny portions of the lower church walls/footings were visible and these added little to the knowledge of the building's history. It seemed that part of the chancel had been underpinned with brick at some stage, but the extent and date of this work was impossible to determine. It was also possible that under the north aisle there survived an earlier structure but this could not be defined adequately within the confines of the drainage trench. The excavations within the old cemetery adjacent to the church showed that burials were very densely packed on the southern and eastern sides of the chancel, but were sparse on the northern side and to the west. At least 30 burials were disturbed: 2 adults and a child from the southern side of the chancel; 3 adults, an infant and a child from the eastern side of the chancel; 1 adult from the northern side of the chancel; 15 adults and 7 children from the drain and soakaway. It was possible that some of the bones recovered may have been from other burials which could not be clearly identified. Given the shallow nature of the excavations adjacent to the chancel it was impossible to determine the maximum depth of the cemetery build-up in these areas, but in the soakaway pit to the south-east of the chancel the cemetery build-up was 1.5m thick. Without proper archaeological excavation it was impossible to build up any idea of the stratigraphic relationship between these burials, and therefore their relative dates. The old cemetery was in use from the medieval period to the 20th century so the bones could have been of medieval, post-medieval and modern date. Given the method of excavation it was also impossible to determine the position in which the bodies had been buried. The exception was Burial 20 which had one forearm folded across the pelvis. It was of interest that the density of burials within the soakaway was far greater between the depths of 0.80-1.50m below ground level than at depths of between 0.10-0.80m below ground level. A high proportion of the burials recovered (30%) were of infants or children. The proportions of child burials clearly reflected the high child mortality rates of the medieval and post-medieval periods. In the soakaway pit within the new cemetery several features were uncovered. Of most interest was a feature interpreted as a lime slaking pit. This may have been used during the construction of the cemetery wall between the old and new cemeteries. The date of both the wall and the lime-slaking pit was unknown. [Au(adp)]

Author:

Neil Macnab
Jane M McComish

Publisher:

York Archaeology

Year of Publication:

2001

Locations:

Location - Auto Detected:	Oswalds Church Farnham North Yorkshire
Location - Auto Detected:	St Oswalds Church

Subjects / Periods:

Medieval (Auto Detected Temporal)
20th Century (Auto Detected Temporal)
MEDIEVAL (Historic England Periods)
MEDIEVAL (Historic England Periods)

Note:

Date Of Issue From: 2001 Date Of Coverage From: 01 Date Of Coverage To: 01 Editorial Expansion: Site name: ST OSWALD'S CHURCH, FARNHAM
Study area:
Investigation type: Post-determination/Research
District: Harrogate
Monument:
Ngr: SE34816059
Parish: Farnham
Postcode: HG5 9JD

Source:

BIAB (Archaeological Investigations Project (AIP))

Created Date:

19 Jan 2009