Monument record 1160/29/1 - Cemetery of St Martin's Chapel

A cemetery founded in the late 10th century. From the 12th century the cemetery appears to have belonged to the chapel of St Martin

{1} A total of 72 skeletons were excavated in at least six north-south rows, including at least 18 burials from the late 10th and 11th centuries. They were densely intercutting in some areas, indicating that the cemetery was in use for some time. The majority of skeletons were supine (apart from one child which had been buried in a prone position) in west-east graves with their heads to the west. No surviving evidence of coffins or objects placed with the body.

No boundary wall or fence was identified but, aside from two outlying juveniles, the area occupied by the burials must have been well defined. Those burials found within the excavation area blong to the north-western corner of a cemetery that must have continued east to Horsemarket and south perhaps as far as Marefair.

The balance of probability is that from the 12th century the cemetery belonged to the chapel of St Martin, which is thought to have stood on the western side of Horsemarket, with a tenement to the north and possibly a messuage or a garden to the south. The earlier burials may have been associated with an extension of St Gregory's churchyard, or else belonged to a currently unknown place of worship.

<1> Museum of London Archaeology Service, 2005, Saxon, medieval and post-medieval settlement at Sol Central, Marefair, Northampton, (checked0 (Full Report). SNN105717.

Record last edited

Apr 23 2025 7:28PM