Monument record 467/1/3 - St Wilfrid's Churchyard, Grappenhall

<1> Richards R, 1947, Old Cheshire Churches, p.169-170 (Book). SCH2309.

The churchyard is considerably higher than the wall, and on one of the lower storeys of the wall is the date 1612. Before extensions to the burial ground were made, the churchyard was to the south of the church to avoid the shadow of the church falling on the graves. One of the earliest readable flat stone memorials is to Anne Pickering, who died in April 1637.

<2> Matrix Archaeology, 2018, St Wilfrid's Church, Grappenhall, Warrington: Archaeological Evaluation, R4217 (Client Report). SCH8545.

A programme of archaeological trial pitting was undertaken in April 2018 at St Wilfred’s Church in advance of a proposed extension to the north of the church. A total of four trial pits were excavated within the churchyard, each measuring 1.2m square. They were located within the footprint of the new building, between existing nineteenth century grave markers. Evidence for nineteenth and early twentieth century burials was found comprising human remains and remains of timber coffins and fittings.

<3> Matrix Archaeology, 2020, St Wilfrid's Church, Grappenhall, Warrington: Archaeological Watching Brief, R4472 (Client Report). SCH8946.

Following on from the programme of archaeological trial pitting in 2018 (see source 2), an archaeological watching brief was undertaken to the north of the church during groundworks for the 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.