SNN114769 - St John the Baptist Church, Kingsthorpe, Northamptonshire: Archaeological Monitoring and Evaluation, September 2021

A programme of archaeological monitoring and recording was undertaken initially during the excavation of three test pits, and then during the excavation of archaeological trial trenches ahead of groundworks for a building on the north side of the church of Saint John the Baptist, The Green, Kingsthorpe, Northampton, NN2 6QD (Ref. N/2019/0488). The development site lies within the graveyard of the Grade I Listed church and within the Kingsthorpe Conservation area. Fragments of human bone were recovered from the test pits, but no articulated burials were recorded in the test pits immediately adjacent to the Chapter House building. These had modern rubble in them, presumably dating to when the building was erected in 1985. In two of the trial trenches (1 and 3) burials were exposed at a depth of 0.80 below ground level. In Trench 2 the topsoil overlay a layer of concrete over most of the trench, so burials may also exist below this. All disarticulated human bone was bagged and reburied in the corner of Trench 1. Articulated bone was left in situ and covered with plastic; in the case of an infant burial in Trench 3 the bones were bagged and reburied in situ.