Excavation of the Late Saxon and Medieval Churchyard of St Martin's, Wallingford, Oxfordshire

Iain Soden

• Publisher: Archaeopress
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781784917661
• eBook ISBN: 9781784917678
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Archaeology
• Index: Social Sciences

MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology) undertook excavations over 2003-4 at the former St Martin's churchyard, Wallingford, Oxfordshire. St Martin's, one of perhaps eight churches of late Saxon Wallingford, was located in a prominent position in the centre of the burh. No middle Saxon activity was found and the earliest remains consisted of a layer sealing the natural subsoil which contained a probable late Saxon lead cross. Earliest use of the churchyard has been dated to the late 10th to early 11th century by radiocarbon dating, and burials continued until the end of the 14th century, serving a dwindling parish population, before the cemetery rapidly fell out of use thereafter. No burials post-date 1412. Part of the cemetery has not been disturbed by the present development. The unexcavated areas and previous post-medieval and modern disturbances has meant the original size of the cemetery remains unknown. A late Saxon mortar mixer found on the site has added to a growing number of this distinctive early constructional feature. While its presence indicates the vicinity of the late Saxon church, no foundations of St Martin's church appear to have survived cellar digging and quarrying for gravel that occurred in the early 18th century. Osteological analysis of 187 of the 211 excavated skeletons of the cemetery has depicted a lay population which was almost equally split between males and females, with only a slight bias towards males. Their distribution showed no observable cluster within the churchyard by age or gender. A high proportion of children is notable but newborns and very young children were comparatively rare. The significance of this is unclear since so many disarticulated remains were also present due to later disturbance. Both degenerative pathologies and inherited conditions affecting bone were noted, as were a high frequency of trauma, some of it violent. Generally the population could be shown to have led healthy early lives compared to other urban assemblages, although evidence of tuberculosis and iron deficiency suggest that living conditions and diet at the heart of medieval Wallingford were far from ideal. Within the excavated area of the cemetery, a number of the burials demonstrated known pre-Conquest burial rites and there are some aspects which may be peculiar to the area, suggesting local variations to common rites. Eight pre-Conquest burials had their heads supported mostly by stones, but one had his head supported by two disarticulated skulls. One 30-40 year old male was buried wearing a pierce scallop-shell, presumably a pilgrim badge from Santiago de Compostella. Four burials were interred in stone-built cists and these ranged from a c1 year old to adults of both sexes. A further six burials lay in stone-built cists without a cover. All post-Conquest burials were earth-cut examples.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Contributors
• Acknowledgements
• Figure 1.1 Wallingford and the development area
• 1: Introduction
• Figure 1.2 Reburial of human remains December 2013
• Figure 1.3 December 2013 re-committal service undertaken by Father David O’Sullivan
• 2: Historical and archaeological background
• Figure 2.1 The site and its surroundings – maps 1850-1912 (a-d)
• Figure 2.2 The churches of Wallingford (after Booth et al 2007 and Airs et al 1975)
• Figure 2.3 The site relative to the 1550 survey
• 3: Objectives and strategies
• Figure 3.1 The excavations of 2003-4
• Figure 3.2 Excavation within concrete compartments
• Figure 3.3 Burials being examined under lighting
• Figure 3.4 Burials being examined under lighting
• Figure 3.5 Late Saxon mortar mixer cut by medieval burials
• Figure 3.6 Planning of excavated burials
• 4: Excavations
• Figure 4.1 Plan of Evaluation Trench 1
• Figure 4.2 Plan of sondage excavated
• Figure 4.3 Plan of sondage re-excavated. Selective sections of pits within sondage
• Figure 4.4 Trench 1 sondage re-excavated, looking north-west
• Figure 4.5 St Martin’s Churchyard: Phase 1 (late 10th to early 11th century)
• Figure 4.6 Charcoal burial 211, looking east
• Figure 4.7 Section across the western churchyard wall and the deposits to either side
• Figure 4.8 Late Saxon mortar mixer
• Figure 4.10 Section through late Saxon mortar mixer and layers below
• Figure 4.9 Late Saxon mortar mixer, looking north
• Figure 4.11 St Martin’s Churchyard: Phase 2 (early to mid 11th century)
• Figure 4.12 Burial 56 with ‘ear-muffs’ and scallop-shell pendant
• Figure 4.13 Burial 56 detail showing scallop shell pendant
• Figure 4.14 Burials (77 and 78) with skulls as ‘ear-muffs’ and stone slab on chest
• Figure 4.15 Burial 78 showing the skulls as ‘ear-muffs’
• Figure 4.16 Comparative burial rites of Burials 197 and 199
• Figure 4.17 Burial 197 (foreground) and 199 (background, right)
• Figure 4.18 Burial 199, cover stones removed
• Figure 4.19 Burial 141 within stone built cist
• Figure 4.20 Burial 138: the only undisturbed stone cist
• Figure 4.21 Burial 138: the lid remove
• Figure 4.22 Plans of Burials 138 and 141
• Figure 4.23 St Martin’s Churchyard: Phase 3 (mid 11th-12th century)
• Figure 4.24 St Martin’s Churchyard: Phase 4 (12th century)
• Figure 4.25 Burial 77 cutting earlier Burial 78
• Figure 4.26 St Martin’s churchyard: Phase 5 (medieval, 13th century)
• Figure 4.27 Burial 7 cut by Burial 6 with Burial 4 to the east
• Figure 4.28 St Martin’s Churchyard: Phase 6 (medieval, 14th century)
• Figure 4.29 Burial 46
• Figure 4.30 Location of neonate and infant burials from excavation and sieving
• 5: Artefacts
• Table 5.1 Ceramic phasing: defining wares and pottery occurrence per phase by number and weight (g) of stratified sherds and EVE, all fabrics
• Table 5.2 Pottery occurrence by site ceramic phase by fabric type, main fabrics only, expressed as percentage of the phase to al by weight (g)
• Figure 5.1 Brill/Boarstall jug from evaluation Trench 1
• Table 5.3 Finds by material
• Figure 5.2 Religious souvenirs: lead crucifix 1) and scallop shell pilgrim’s badge 2)
• Figure 5.3 Other finds: Costume mount, 3); hooked tags 4) and 5) and balance pans, 6 and 7)
• Table 5.4 The radiocarbon determinations
• 6: Human remains
• Table 6.1 Summary of bone preservation (N=187)
• Table 6.2 Summary of completeness of skeletal assemblage (N=187)
• Figure 6.1 Age and sex distribution of the total assemblage (N=187) M=male, F=female
• Table 6.3 Summary of age and sex distribution in the total assemblage (N=187)
• Figure 6.2 Distribution of adult stature estimates in the total population
• Table 6.4 Mean stature calculations of stature in females and possible females, and males and possible males (N=104)
• Table 6.5 Summary of mean stature and range in comparative medieval assemblages
• Table 6.6 Location and sex distribution of fractures (N=187)
• Table 6.7 Age and sex distribution of cribra orbitalia (N=19. Percentages are CPRs)
• Table 6.8 Prevalence of cribra orbitalia from four comparative sites
• Table 6.9 Summary of congenital anomalies in the St Martin’s population
• Table 6.10 Summary of true prevalence rates (TPR) of cranial non-metric traits in adults (N=139)
• Table 6.11 Summary of true prevalence rates (TPR) of post-cranial non-metric traits in adults (N = 139)
• 7: Discussion
• Bibliography