Church Archaeology 05-06

This article summarises recent archaeological work in and around St Paid’s Cathedral, London, and reviews the evidence for the cathedral site from the Roman period, through the ten centuries from the foundation of the cathedral in 604 until the Great Fire of London in 1666 which destroyed the medieval building. Archaeological sources include observations since 1675, salvage work north of the cathedral in 1969, and interventions from 1994 to the present, both inside and around the Wren building. Four subjects are briefly reviewed: the evidence for the Saxon cathedral and its relation to Roman topography; the Romanesque cathedral; the Gothic cathedral; and the works of Inigo Jones in 1633-41. Recent archaeological work, though small in extent, has been the catalyst for bringing together all the evidence, over the last three and a half centuries, for the archaeological story of St Paul’s.

The Irish churchyard family plot had its origins in the 18th century with the first widespread erection of stone markers, and clearer definition in the 19th century with kerbs and railings. Further evolution can be identified in the 20th century, with elaboration of the plot area. Influences from Britain and Europe can be recognised within the largely indigenous development of a characteristic and still-vibrant cultural tradition of grave definition. The social and ideological implications of plot development are discussed, as are the archaeological implications for interpretation of surviving monuments in contemporary graveyard recording projects.

This article takes as its point of departure the loss of various 18th and 19th- century burial grounds to development in South Yorkshire. Case studies are given based upon recent work at Sheffield Cathedral, the Peace Gardens, and Carver Street Methodist Chapel, Sheffield, as well as the New Street Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Barnsley. Current archaeological approaches to the study of 18th and 19th- century burials are far from satisfactory. There is an urgent need for curatorial archaeologists to stress the importance of such later post-medieval urban burial grounds to potential developers, and for contracting archaeologists to ensure that proper provision, both in terms of access and funding, is made by their clients for appropriate scientific study. The information gained from the study of later post-medieval urban burials would benefit from synthesis and analysis at a regional level. This may serve to establish variations in osteological data, as well as funerary practices and associated material culture within and between different congregational groups and different localities. In support of this suggestion we examine the significance of Nonconformist burial grounds and identify some potential research questions for future work.

Archaeological investigation undertaken prior to the building of an extension at St Bartholomew’s Church in the summer of 1999 has revealed interesting insights into the life of the people of Penn in the 18th and 19th centuries. A total of 372 burials had to be moved and were recorded before being re-interred in the northern portion of the graveyard. From legible plates and stones it was possible to identify 49 named individuals, many of whom had been buried in underground vaults and shafts. Overall it can be said from the evidence recorded during the examination of the skeletons that during the 18th and 19th century the people of Penn were in good health and generally lived well into old age. A variety of different burial types were revealed. The majority of individuals were buried in shrouds and laid in earth-cut graves, or within wooden coffins, often with brass or iron fittings. It is likely that the majority of the individuals buried in earth-cut graves are earlier: most were deeper and were cut by later burials, some of which could be dated to the 18th and 19th centuries. A number of the coffin fittings are as yet unparalleled elsewhere. Some individuals were buried within elaborate triple-shell lead and wooden coffins, often within brick-shaft graves or larger brick-built family vaults. In addition to discussing the results, this article attempts to evaluate the success of the project. The methodology was loosely based on a small group of broadly similar projects combined with the author’s own past experience.

Meaux Abbey, a daughter house of Fountains Abbey, is extremely fortunate in that it has excellent documentation; a number of buildings were described in Abbot Thomas Burtons Chronicle of 1396 -9, spanning 250 years; we know that the abbey developed from early flimsy wattle and daub temporary structures to timber and later, when a quarry was available, to stone. Although there are no extant buildings, documentation illustrates much of the history, economic activities and architectural development of the convent; and because the site was preserved under permanent pasture since the 1540s significant archaeological remains are believed to survive largely undisturbed by antiquarian and later investigations. Research for a doctoral thesis at the University of Sheffield has used documentary evidence, the results of earlier excavations and survey, an RCHM earthwork survey and new resistivity survey to provide greater understanding of the outer precinct, its layout, the way it was used, and its relationship between the inner and outer courts. The site has enormous potential for further investigation, including a need for limited carefully targeted research excavation which could be justified by the increasing levels of desiccation and damage.

County Durham; parish church; architecture; Anglo-Saxon; Norman; Romanesque

The south choir gallery is a late 1 lth-century structure modified in the mid14th century, as is the adjoining south transept east gallery chapel (Welander 1991, 150; Wilson 1985, 73). A single brick floor laid in a simple herringbone pattern extends throughout both of these galleries; documentary evidence, in the form of building accounts, provides a date in the 1670s for laying this floor with 8,900 bricks purchased from Worcester (Welander 1991, 373). This brick pavement was partially lifted in 1935 revealing a geometric pattern in an underlying surface. The feature was photographed at the time (ibid, 374), but was interpreted as a mortar bed for the brick floor. During 2001 the brick floor was lifted along several narrow channels for inserting cables, as part of improvements to the fire precautions being carried out in the cathedral. Nine trenches, 200-300mm in width, were cut by maintenance staff, involving removal of some bricks and excavation of the substrate to a depth of 100-150mm below current floor level. The level at which this ‘mortar bed’ floor was encountered was 130-l40mm below the present 17th century brick pavement. A total of 44m was cut in this way.

graveyard; cemetery; churchyard; headstone; post-medieval; Ireland; commemoration