Monument record 755/1/2 - St Mary's Churchyard

{1} Over thirty individual skeletons were removed from the churchyard, dating from the C11th to C14th.

{2} South of the church porch disarticulated human bones suggests that this area had been used and reused for burials, disturbing AD 1250-1350 occupation layers in the process. This suggests that the southern part of the churchyard was only created in the late medieval period. Test pits around the west tower contained disarticulated human remains and had been severely disturbed by grave cutting. Similar grave disturbance was observed throughout the northern churchyard test pits. Other test pits contained graves, but any articulated human bones lay below the greatest depth of excavation.
Within the northern churchyard general deposits encountered dated to the mid C13th and mid C14th, possibly associated with the rebuilding of the church, dated by Pevsner to the C13th. This appears to be corroborated by pottery found within graves, however the dating of all the graves revealed is problematic. Further discussion of this is presented. Excavation revealed a sizeable assemblage of human bone, mostly of the C12th to C14th. Further analysis is yet to be undertaken.
By the C11th Christian burials were taking place in the northern churchyard, the first evidence for a church or chapel on this site at this period. Deposits within the northern churchyard might be associated with the rebuilding of the church in the mid to late C13th, which is consistent with the fabric of the existing church. The graveyard is likely to have been restricted to the north side until the late C14th as land to the south of the church was occupied by settlement.

<1> Jones R., 2005, Northamptonshire Archaeological Society: Whittlebury Hillfort, (checked) (Website). SNN107406.

<2> Jones R.L.C.; Pears B., 2003, Excavation and Geophysical Survey at St Mary's Church, Whittlebury, Northamptonshire (Draft), p.6-11 (checked) (Interim Report). SNN105857.

<2> Jones, R L C, 2004?, Excavation and Geophysical Survey at St Mary's Church, Whittlebury, Northamptonshire (Draft), p.6-11 (checked) (Report). SNN112081.

Record last edited

Apr 20 2023 10:54AM