Site Event/Activity record ECC4148 - Test pit evaluation at St Mary's Church, Wivenhoe, 2020

Location

Location St Mary's Church, High Street, Wivenhoe, C07 9BD
Grid reference Centred TM 0389 2151 (8m by 4m)
Map sheet TM02SW
County ESSEX
Civil Parish WIVENHOE, COLCHESTER, ESSEX

Technique(s)

Organisation

Colchester Archaeological Trust Ltd

Date

May 2020

Map

Description

Two evaluation test pits (TP3 & TP4), each 2m x 2m in area, were excavated by Colchester Archaeological Trust in May 2020 in advance of the construction of a new extension. The test pits revealed ten inhumation burials (all left in situ) and a quantity of disarticulated bone. The in situ burials were encountered between 0.75m and 1.17m in depth below current ground level (they were at a slightly lower level in TP3). The burials with datable material provided a date range from the late 17th to the 19th century for these features, although one had disturbed an earlier burial. A 19th-century wall foundation F1 was defined in TP3, probably the remains of a funerary monument.<1> A significant quantity of iron coffin furniture was recovered from L3 (post medieval buried soil or grave fill) in TP3 and TP4, along with a single coffin handle from L1 in TP4, and all of these items likely came from truncated late 17th- to 19th-century burials. Additional finds included two small copper alloy upholstery studs (also from a coffin), a copper-alloy dress pin and a fragment of bone handle.

Sources/Archives (1)

  • <1> Evaluation Report: Hicks, Elliot. 2020. Archaeological monitoring and test-pit evaluation at St Mary's Church, High Street, Wivenhoe, Essex, CO7 9BD. CAT Report 1551.

Related Monuments/Buildings (1)

  • Churchyard of St Mary the Virgin, Wivenhoe (Monument)

Record last edited

Jun 4 2020 8:59AM

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