COMMUNITY ARCHAEOLOGY

A SITE INSPECTION ON GROUNDWORKS AT

CHURCH WALK, NEWARK

NCA-045

Emily Gillott

March 2015
Contents

Page no.
List of figures and plates, Acknowledgements I
1.0 Introduction 1
2.0 Site Location 1
3.0 Site Background 1
4.0 Site Inspection 3
5.0 Conclusions and Advice 4
References 5
List of figures and plates

Page no.
Fig. 1 Location of the parish church of St Mary Magdalene 6
Fig. 2 Location of the works on Church Walk 6

Page no.
Plate 1 View of the location of the works on Church Walk 7
Plate 2 View of the excavated area showing the location of the damaged skull 7
Plate 3 The remains recovered from the spoil 8

Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Lorraine Horsley for comments on the human remains.

Written By Read by Signed off Report date

EG LH LH 2015

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1.0 Introduction

The NCC Heritage and Conservation Team was contacted by the Highways
Department who informed them of minor works to taking place alongside the Parish
Church of St Mary Magdalene in Newark. These works had not required
archaeological conditions, but had uncovered human remains during their
implementation.

The works involved the excavation of an area approximately 100 x 60cm, to a depth
of around 100cm, for the placement of a telecommunications hub. The area affected
is on a walkway directly adjacent to the Parish church. Given the proximity of the
site to the medieval church, and known instances of shallow inhumations in the area,
it was not unexpected when human remains were encountered. The NCC
Community Archaeologists attended the work to assess the remains on 13th March
2015.

2.0 Site Location

The Parish church of St Mary Magdalene is located at E479925 N353937 (see fig.
1). The work was carried out on Church Walk, a right of way directly to the south of
the church structure. The church sits in the historic core of the town adjacent to the
market place, which is located to the south west. The main areas of churchyard are
to the north and east of the church. Many of the gravestones have been removed to
turn the churchyard into a useable public space.

3.0 Site Background

Ten churches are mentioned in the Domesday Book, and one of these almost
certainly represents the church of St Mary Magdalene, though the earliest
architectural features of the current church date to around 1180. There was an
Anglo-Saxon era church on the site, endowed by Lady Godiva, but nothing remains
above ground of this structure. Most of the present church structure is of 15th
century date and in Perpendicular style.

The main churchyard area is to the north of the church structure, though there is also
a later extension to the east stretching towards Appleton Gate. An area to the south
was annexed in 1349 to accommodate victims of the plague, though this area no
longer exists as churchyard. Church Walk passes close to the church on the south
side and represents the boundary of the churchyard. There are a number of
gravestones between the church and Church Walk.

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The boundary of the churchyard area represented on Chapman’s map of 1777 is
broadly similar to the current extent, showing that the boundaries have not changed
much in the last 250 years. The churchyard has been extended several times
historically and the current graveyard boundary does not represent all of the changes
made in the past.

As with many graveyards overcrowding became a problem particularly in the late

18th century, and in 1856 the northern part of the churchyard was closed to burials.

The Nottinghamshire HER contains a number of references to discoveries of human

remains in the vicinity of the church. In 1995 archaeological work was carried out on
Church Street directly to the west of the church structure (JSAC, 1995). This
revealed a number of intercutting burials, some of which were at a very shallow
depth below the ground surface; only around 10cm deep. The burials appeared to
continue beyond the 1m depth of the archaeological trenching. Interestingly work
carried out in a similar location the following year revealed just a single fragment of
human bone (Jarvis, 1996), suggesting that the historic churchyard area has either
been drastically truncated by later buildings, or that it never extended far to the west.

In 1996 archaeological work was carried out on Church Walk (South) at the west end
where it joins Church Street (JSAC, 1996). These small-scale works revealed 3
human skeletons, again at a shallow depth of only around 15cm.

The most significant piece of work in the area, and the most relevant to this report,
was carried over a large area of Church Walk (South) in 1997 ahead of surfacing
improvements (Abbot & Walton Rogers, 1997). Initially the excavation strategy had
been to recover all the skeletal material from the works trenches. However such a
quantity of human remains were found that the strategy was changed, and those
below 0.4m deep were preserved in situ. The conclusion of this work was that many
of the individuals had been buried in linen shrouds and two pieces of shroud textile
were recovered. Burial in linen shrouds was common practice from the 12th century
to the 1600’s when it was banned. Instances of burial in linen shrouds continued
beyond the legislation, however, as linen was much preferred to wool (Litten, 1991).

This excavation also recovered some partially articulated remains. This suggests
that decomposition was not complete when plots were being reused, and shows that
pressures for space in the graveyard existed long before the 1800’s.

Once again the shallow depth of the burials was noted, and that the burials started
immediately below the tarmac and paving slabs. They concluded that ‘in keeping
with traditional medieval burial practices, the south side of the church was used as
part of the graveyard around the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries’ (Abbot & Walton
Rogers, 1997, 3). This date was supported by radiocarbon dating.

Archaeological work carried out at The Song School, to the north west of the
graveyard, recovered 76 fragments of human bone (JSAC, 1993). These had clearly

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been disturbed but are further evidence that the churchyard boundary has changed
over the years.

Whilst the location of the works on Church Walk is not inside the present graveyard
boundary, it is certainly included within earlier iterations of the graveyard given the
archaeological evidence.

4.0 Site Inspection

During the course of the work a human skull was encountered. The work was
stopped and the contractors contacted the County Council Highways team for
advice. They, in turn, contacted the archaeological team who arranged an
immediate site visit to assess the remains.

Plate 1 shows the location of the works on Church Walk and their proximity to the
church structure. The skull was damaged at the time of discovery, and the position
of the damaged skull can be seen in Plate 2. Workmen had been removing
decorative paving pieces with a hammer and chisel and had encountered the skull in
this way. The skull was discovered only 30cm below the surface of the paving.

Upon arrival at the site the responding archaeologist established very quickly that the
remains were of archaeological nature. The remains lie below a walkway that has
been in existence for over 100 years, and sit immediately adjacent to a modern wall.

Inspection of the removed spoil revealed a number of pieces of human bone but
there was no evidence to suggest that these were from articulated remains. There
were several fragments of cranium and facial bone which had clearly been broken by
the chisel. There were also pieces of mandible and numerous teeth. Post-cranial
bones were also evident including the sternal end of a rib and a possible piece of
pelvis. These elements could have been from one adult individual. One juvenile
phalanx with unfused epiphyses was found giving a Minimum Number of Individuals
(MNI) of two. The remains had clearly been previously disturbed and were mixed.
One piece of animal bone was also recovered. Plate 3 shows the remains recovered
from the spoil.

The remains were collected in a finds bag which was left in the hole. The
contractors ensured that the hole was covered and the remains protected from public
view.

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5.0 Conclusions and Advice

The remains were archaeological in nature and are probably redeposited fragments
from graves disturbed by historic groundworks, which could include the construction
of the modern wall visible in Plate 2.

There is documentary evidence that the churchyard was extended to the south in
1349 to accommodate plague victims. There is ample archaeological evidence to
support the conclusion that this area was once part of the graveyard, and was being
used in the 12th and 13th centuries. The layout of the graveyard has barely changed
since the 1770’s and so it is unlikely that the remains represent post-medieval
burials.

The remains recovered during these works were located directly adjacent to the area
under investigation in 1997. These remains are redeposited fragments from an area
of churchyard that was in use in the 12th and 13th centuries.

Information provided by the contractors proved that it would not be possible to avoid
disturbing the remains further, and that there was a strong likelihood of further
remains being encountered. As such the advice from the County Archaeologist was
that an archaeological contractor should be employed to record and analyse the
recovered remains and ensure that any further remains were recorded and treated
appropriately.

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References

Abbot, C., & Walton Rogers, P., Salvage Excavations at the Medieval Cemetery of
St Mary Magdalene, Church Walk South, Newark, Trent and Peak Archaeological
Trust

Jarvis, M., 1996, Church Street, Newark, Notts: Archaeological Watching Brief, City
of Lincoln Archaeological Unit

JSAC, 1993, An Archaeological Evaluation at The Song School, Newark, John

Samuels Archaeological Consultants

JSAC, 1995, An Archaeological Evaluation at Church Street, Newark, John Samuels

Archaeological Consultants

JSAC, 1996, An Archaeological Excavation in connection with re-paving works at

Church Walk (South), Newark, Nottinghamshire, John Samuels Archaeological
Consultants

Litten, J., 1991. The English Way of Death: the Common Funeral Since 1450, Hale:
London

www.southwellchurches.nottingham.ac.uk

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Figures

Fig 1: The location of the parish church of St Mary Magdalene in Newark. (Source
www.openstreetmap.org)

Fig. 2 The location of the works on Church Walk (source www.google.co.uk)

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Plates

Plate 1: View of the location of the works on Church Walk.

Plate 2: View of the excavated area showing the location of the damaged skull.

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Plates 3: The remains recovered from the spoil.

All photos by Emily Gillott (Nottinghamshire County Council) unless otherwise stated.