NHER 68268 (Monument record) - Churchyard of St Andrew's Church, Northwold

Churchyard of St Andrew's Church (NHER 4836).

MONUMENTS

A number 18th- and early 19th-century monuments within this churchyard were listed Grade II in 1985. These all lie to the south of the church and are as follows:
- Headstone 23m south of central buttress of church. 1701 (List Entry 1170400; TL 75595 96972).
- Headstone 4m south-east of south porch. 1704 (List Entry 1077771; TL 75580 96989).
- Headstone 8m south of south porch. Early 18th century (List Entry 1170379; TL 75579 96986).
- Headstone 11m south of south aisle. 1740 (List Entry 1077773; TL 75580 96984).
- Headstone to Sarah, wife of Philip. 10m south of south porch. 1761 (List Entry 1077772; TL 75577 96985).
- Headstone 6m south of south aisle. 1768 (List Entry 1342349; TL 75584 96988).
- Headstone 11m south of central buttress of chancel. Late 17th century (List Entry 1342351; TL 75593 96983).
- Headstone to Thomas Wright, 16m south of chancel. 1768 (List Entry 1170392; TL 75589 96983).
- Headstone to member of Wright family, 24m south of chancel. 1771 (List Entry 1077774; TL 75586 96977).
- Headstone to Henry Hoysier, 11m south of chancel. 1777 (List Entry 1366151; TL 75590 96987).
- Headstone to member of Wright family, 25m south of chancel. 1790 (List Entry 1366154; TL 75588 96974).
- Headstone 7m south of south aisle. 1796 (List Entry 1170386; TL 75584 96987).
- Headstone to member of Wright family, 15m south of chancel. 1801 (List Entry 1342350; TL 75589 96984).
These ashlar headstones are all rectangular (or at least roughly rectangular). Decorative elements noted include several skull and crossbones, hourglasses, cherub heads and cherubic archers. One has a female figure with long hair who reclines resting on a skull (suggested as an allusion to a young unmarried woman).
Information from (S1).
Please consult the National Heritage List for England (S1) for the current listing details.
P. Watkins (HES), 27 December 2023.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES AND OBSERVATIONS

16 August 2000. Stray Find.
During roadworks outside church.
Human bones found "...in the same place where bones found a few years ago". Thought to be due to recent encroachment of road upon churchyard. Reburied within a yard.
Information from Thetford police.
Previously recorded under NHER 4836.
E. Rose (NLA) 16 August 2000. P. Watkins (HES), 15 April 2024.

July and October 2014. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of groundworks associated with installation of new drainage system, including the excavation of five deep soakaway trenches.
The excavations for the five new soakaways encountered a number of burials, with the densest concentration recorded in a trench dug to the south-west of the porch (Soakaway 1). Here the remains of a minimum of eight individuals were recorded, although the exact stratigraphy of these east-to-west aligned burials was difficult to determine due to the their intercutting nature and the similarity of the grave fills. It is possible that several of the burials had been deliberately placed on top of one another within a family grave. Most of the remains were those of adults but two probable juveniles or young adults were also identified. Several of the burials were associated with items of coffin furniture. A soakaway to the south-east of the church encountered disarticulated remains and the edge of a grave associated with a wooden coffin, while a connecting trench exposed the leg bones of an articulated skeleton. Three further, well-spaced burials were encountered within a trench dug to the north of the nave, although these were not fully exposed as they lay below the required depth of the soakaway. Soakaway trenches dug to the north-east of the nave and east of the church encountered only disarticulated bones (although it should be noted that the latter was excavated without archaeological supervision in poor weather).
The deposits encountered by the soakaway trenches consisted largely of deep churchyard soils. Notable exceptions included an area of creamy sandy lime mortar likely to represent building waste recorded at the base of the soakaway to the south-east of the church (at a depth of c.1.10m). A dump of brick and mortar rubble was also recorded in one of the soakaways excavated to the north of the church (most likely debris from 19th-century works).
Several of the new downpipe gullies excavated revealed parts of the church footings, which were shown to consist of chalk blocks with roughly coarsed flint and mortar above. A reused dressed stone block was also found to form part of the footings on the south side of the south aisle. Some form of brick structure was also exposed just west of the doorway in the north wall of the nave. A gully excavated adjacent to the central buttress on the south side of the chancel exposed the probable remains of a former buttress, which had had a core of mortared brick and chalk rubble. Bricks of probable medieval and post-medieval date were recovered from the remains of this buttress, along with a fragment of chalk with tool marks. The footings for the extant buttress were shown to comprise several layers of mortared flints.
The trenches for the drains connecting the soakaways to the downpipe gullies revealed little of archaeological interest. The most notable discovery was two joining parts of a medieval coffin lid with a carved cross, which were found face down just south-west of the porch. This 'cross slab' probably dates to the 13th century. A piece of building stone with inscribed numbers and letters found in the same trench is most likely a post-medieval coping stone.
The pottery recovered during these works includes a notable number of Late Saxon sherds and several of early medieval date, providing evidence for activity at this location prior to the construction of the present church. Other finds recovered include a medieval roof tile, pieces of medieval and post-medieval window glass (the former too degraded to determine whether they were painted), fragments of degraded lava quern, a clay tobacco pipe stem fragment, a piece of probable iron smithing slag, an oyster shell and a Welsh roofing slate of 19th- or 20th-century date.
Information from draft report. Final version awaited.
The stone coffin lid and inscribed stone block remain in the safe-keeping of the church. The excavated skeletons were bagged and labelled and left for reburial within the churchyard, along with the disarticulated remains recovered during the works.
P. Watkins (HES), 15 April 2024.