NHER 61887 (Monument record) - Human remains and medieval to post-medieval finds

January 2015. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of excavation of new soakaway.
A considerable depth of subsoil was shown to be present in this part of the cemetery, with natural geological deposits not reached, even though the soakaway was excavated to a depth of 1.2m. A large amount of disarticulated human bone was seen during the excavation, although only one articulated burial was identified. This skeleton was exposed at a depth of 0.9m and was aligned east-to-west in typical Christian fashion. There was no evidence for either a coffin or a grave cut.
Finds recovered during this work included a small number of medieval and post-medieval pottery sherds and medieval floor tiles.
The excavation of a catch-pit adjacent to the church and a connecting drain run were not monitored, although it appeared that these had not penetrated beneath the topsoil.
It was observed that a previously-noted fragmentary medieval effigy (NHER 58019) was incorporated into the cement capping for a late 19th- or early 20th-century brick-built soakaway. It has now been suggested that rather than being Purbeck limestone the effigy may actually be Alwalton marble, a much rarer stone that was mainly in use during the 13th century.
See report (S1) for further details.
The archive associated with this work has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2017.295).
P. Watkins (HES), 26 October 2016. Amended 19 May 2019.