Site Event/Activity record ECH4234 - St Bartholomew's Chuch, Wilmslow. Extension Phase 1; An Archaeological Watching Brief.

The presence of burials in the excavated trenches will not cause surprise. There ,were no disturbed burials in trenches A, B, C, or D. As the excavations deepened from 1.7m in trench E to 3.3m at the southern end of trench F, The coffined remains of articulated burials was encountered on the floor of trench E and at about 1.7m - 2.2m in trench F. The depth of these burials is unusual. A normal burial in this churchyard prior to the 1840 Burial Act would have been about 1.5m or less. This depth would suggest that there is about a metre depth of imported soil in the area to the east of the chancel and to the south-east of the church. This might explain the large number of bones deposited at the north end of trench E and the broken grave slabs at about a metre depth throughout the length of trench E. All these had been deposited during the upheavals connected to the building of the boiler house and vestry in 1860.