Building record 1689/1/3 - Churchyard Walls to the Church of St Oswald

<1> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 55578 (Digital Archive). SCH4666.

Retaining and parapet wall to churchyard, probably medieval below plinth, with much nineteenth century restoration above. Coursed red sandstone. Stone panels in upper part of wall inscribed (from left to right) ......1819; William Strewell Bevin: Henry Cooper: Church Wardens: 1859; (repositioned) T.... 185..; John Holland: Charles Price: Churchwardens: 1854; George Hooper: Lloyd Jones: Church Wardens: 1857.

<2> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 55581 (Digital Archive). SCH4666.

Churchyard wall probably late eighteenth century, of coursed red sandstone.

<3> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 55576 (Digital Archive). SCH4666.

Churchyard wall one metre high, probably early nineteenth century but on an older boundary, of coursed red sandstone, bearing two incised stone plaques: to left Joseph Birchall (?): John Caldecott: Church Wardens 1818; to right (by Market House) George Pat.... : Randle Ph....

<4> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Land Line and Master Map Vector Maps, 04/02/2022 (Maps and Plans). SCH4491.

<5> Museum of London Archaeology, 2023, Archaeological Watching Brief at St Oswald’s Church, Malpas, R4696 (Client Report). SCH9452.

An archaeological watching brief was carried out in 2022-2023 during groundworks associated with repairs to the grade II listed, southern and western graveyard walls of St Oswald’s Church. The repair works to the walls consisted of the installation of tension micro-piles, embedded into the walls, which were then reinforced by vertical concrete piers. The concrete was poured into 78 pits dug directly behind the wall where the piles were located. During the works, 76 articulated skeletons were uncovered (67 from the southern wall; 9 from the western) and 4068 separate fragments of disarticulated human bone collected. These were recorded and reinterred on site. No archaeological features other than grave cuts were found. The grave-cuts within the cemetery lay between the average depths of 600mm and 1000mm below the surface.

From the articulated individuals, out of the 76 individuals, 65 were adults, 8 were juveniles and 3 were neonates. From the 32 individuals that could be assessed for sex, 15 were male, 14 were female and 3 showed mixed traits. Many of the adults and juveniles showed common pathologies associated with past populations such as general dental pathology, spinal pathologies and joint disease. Other pathologies such as trauma, metabolic and circulatory diseases were also observed on occasion.

Very few finds were uncovered in association with burials. Those that could be connected were often coffin furniture in the form of iron coffin handles, iron coffin nails, copper plated coffin studs, metal name plates and metal breast plates. All the coffin furnishing recorded on site was dated only as far back as the 18th century. Most other finds were uncovered from the unstratified subsoil (1001), including several pieces of Medieval floor tile and the fragment of a 16th century chafing dish, decorated with a double sgraffito technique, the only known example of its kind in the region.