SNN111581 - Archaeological observation, investigation and recording at the Church of St Mary the Virgin, Badby, Northamptonshire, January-March 2018

MOLA carried out a programme of archaeological investigation during alterations to the nave and excavation work along the churchyard path and in the south porch of the Grade II* Listed Church of St Mary the Virgin, Badby. The church lies towards the southern end of the village within an area thought to have Saxon origins. The surviving architecture in the church dates from the 14th century with various alterations in the 15th, 18th and 19th centuries. The church has retained its graveyard, although it has been closed to burials since 1886. There were three soil horizons below the 16th-century porch, the earliest buried soil appeared to be contemporary with the south nave wall foundations and this horizon contained a truncated burial and other disturbed human remains. A total of 12 articulated burials were recorded over three soil horizons. Seven of the burials were aged as neonatal to the teens, which suggests that young people had a propensity to be buried closer to the church wall. Two of the other buroals were identified as young adults, one possibly being male. Beneath the churchyard path were the remains of at least 27 individuals dated between the medieval and Victorian periods. The most interesting finds were the pewter paten and chalice fragments found within one of the burials which suggest it was the grave of a priest. The work within the nave revealed two of the medieval pier bases which still displayed some of the original mortared stone foundation, which may represent part of an earlier church structure. Much late 19th century restoration work was also observed with raised wooden floors on low brick walls, brick underpinning of the nave pier arch foundations and brick-lined vents and ehating conduits.