Site Event/Activity record ECH4186 - A New Electric Cable at St. Mary's Church, Nantwich, Cheshire; an Archaeological Watching Brief.

A watching brief undertaken during the installation of a new electric mains cable through the graveyard of St. Mary's Church, Nantwich. The area of the previous cemetery contains a mix of disturbed, disarticulated skeletal material and in situ burials. However, despite continual burial over the centuries, the closure of the cemetery in the mid-nineteenth century has meant that deep modern burial practice has not resulted in widespread, extensive destruction and disturbance at lower levels. This, combined with the presence of deposits which have preserved associated organic material that would not ordinarily survive, means that the potential for the study of churchyard archaeology is great. Of particular note was the presence of human burials beneath Churchyardside, beyond the current grounds of St. Mary's Church. The shallow depths at which the skeletons were recorded, and the previous damage caused, renders them vulnerable to any future ground disturbance which may take place beyond a depth of c.500mm. Although it is difficult to be certain of the date of many of these burials it was clear that several were of late post-medieval date, many probably belonging to the cholera outbreak of 1849 which all but filled the (then larger) graveyard.