Site Event/Activity record ECH6880 - St Wilfrid's Church, Grappenhall, Warrington: Archaeological Watching Brief

Following on from a programme of archaeological trial pitting in April 2018 (ECH6595) at the Grade I Listed St Wilfred’s Church, Grappenhall, an archaeological watching brief was undertaken to the north of the church, during groundworks for an extension to the building. Undated disarticulated human remains were encountered, and three buried gravestones were recorded. No graves or grave cuts were encountered. It is likely that the development plot would have been continually subject to interments from the early post-medieval period at least. Very few disarticulated human remains were uncovered during the watching brief, which seems to confirm that during later interments (i.e. late Victorian period), any remains encountered had been gathered up and placed within charnel pits elsewhere within the churchyard. No articulated human remains were seen, demonstrating that the formation level obtained during groundworks was well above the level of any late Victorian interments. (1)