Site Event/Activity record ECH4624 - County Council Watching Brief at St Elphin's Church

On 8.12.99 a visit was made to St Elphin's church, Warrington to view groundworks in the churchyard, associated with the installation of floodlights. At the time of the visit work was almost complete and it was clear that ground disturbance had been minimal. At one point, however, the contractors reported the uncovering of the top of a brick vault, during the excavation of a pit for floodlight housing. The top of the vault lay at a depth of 0.4m and was not breached. It lay c 60m to the north west of the church, at the western boundary of the churchyard, to the north of the Church Street entrance to the churchyard (C SJ 6149 8845). It seems likely that the structure represents the top of a post-medieval burial vault. More interest attaches to the chance observation of street works to the west of the church, c 30m to the south of the junction of Farrell Street with Church Street, on the west side of the road. Road works had revealed a number of sandstone blocks in the spoil which were clearly not part of the road make up, although no obvious structures could be discerned. It seems possible that these blocks represent demolition debris from the Tithe barn of St Elphin's rectory (SMR 438/0/5), which is recorded at this approximate location and may have survived into the early nineteenth century.