Monument record 10641/5 - Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary - Cemetery

Following the Dissolution, the parochial graveyard to the east and west of the south transept continued to be used (see CHER 10640/18). A stone wall enclosed the cemetery by the sixteenth century (5). By this time, documentary evidence suggests that the churchyard had become neglected, and was used as a repository for rubbish and animal waste. It was levelled in 1619, but still contained a dunghill in 1634. The graveyard was used for burials again following these events, and eighteenth and nineteenth century mapping has the are marked as such. Recent excavations in this area have identified several burials and in some areas, multiple burial horizons (7). Of those that could be assigned a date, the graves were largely eighteenth century (7). Earlier excavations in 1971 in the area that had been designated for the new cathedral bell tower, revealed a substantial layer, 3m thick, of loose black earth with liberal quantities of refuse and human bones dating back to the seventeenth century. Except for the uppermost set of burials, datable to the mid-nineteenth century, the earth was disturbed and no stratification was observed (1).

<1> multiple authors, 1973, Excavation Reports and Summaries (Article in Journal). SCH5782.

<2> Anon, 1973, September 1973: North West Newsletter. Excavations (Article in Journal). SCH6497.

<3> Harris, B.E. (ed), 1987, Victoria County History - A History of the County of Chester: Volume I (Book). SCH3556.

<4> Chester Archaeology, 1971, Excavation records for the Bell Tower, Chester Cathedral (Unpublished Report). SCH6619.

<5> Lewis C.P & Thacker A.T. (eds), 2005, Victoria County History - A History of the County of Chester: Volume Vii, The City of Chester - The City of Chester, Culture, Buildings, Institutions (Book). SCH6522.

<6> Chester Archaeology, 1996, Chester Cathedral 1996 Trial Excavation, R2144 (Client Report). SCH4074.

<7> Oxford Archaeology North, 2011, Chester Cathedral Quarter, Chester. Revised Evaluation Report, R3274 (Client Report). SCH6658.