St. Peters's Church Staple Fitzpaine Somerset
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An Archaeological Watching Brief at St. Peters’s Church Staple Fitzpaine Somerset SFC 13 Carried out for: Staple Fitzpaine Parish Council Grid Reference: ST 2640 1826 Carried out by: C. and N. Hollinrake Ltd., Consultant Archaeologists, 12, Bove Town, Glastonbury, Somerset BA6 8JE Telephone: 01458 833332 Report Number 495 An Archaeological Watching Brief at the parish church of St. Peter, Staple Fitzpaine, Somerset Table of Contents ..............title......................................................................... page ..............Summary................................................................ 1 1.0.........Introduction............................................................ 1 2.0.........Topography and Geology ...................................... 3 3.0.........Archaeological Background .................................. 6 4.0.........Historic Background.............................................. 8 5.0.........Historic Maps......................................................... 10 6.0.........The Watching Brief – Method Statement.............. 14 7.0.........The Watching Brief – Results................................ 16 7.7.........The Interior of the Church ..................................... 32 8.0.........Discussion.............................................................. 41 9.0.........Finds and archive................................................... 43 ..............Acknowledgements................................................ 43 Appendices 1............Site drawings, churchyard ..................................... 44 2............Context list............................................................. 46 3............Finds list................................................................. 51 4............Listing descriptions................................................ 54 Figures ..............title......................................................................... page 1............Parish of Staple Fitzpaine ...................................... 3 2............Location of archaeological sites ............................ 7 3............Plan of Staple Fitzpaine 1829................................ 10 4............Staple Fitzpaine Tithe Map 1838........................... 11 5............First Edition O.S. map 1886 .................................. 12 6............Second Edition O.S. map 1903.............................. 13 7............Trench location plan .............................................. 14 8............Trench F sections................................................... 16 9............Plan of Trenches F and G ...................................... 18 10..........Trench G section.................................................... 19 11..........SK4 and Trench I plan........................................... 26 12..........SK6 plan ................................................................ 27 13..........SK 7 and SK1/8 plan ............................................. 29 14..........Grave cut [808] and pit [806] in plan .................... 30 15..........Specifications for new flooring in nave................. 32 16..........Features recorded inside the church ...................... 34 Photographs ..............title......................................................................... page .............. St Peter’s Church, Staple Fitzpaine ....................... frontispiece 1............Sarsen stone at the roadside................................... 4 2............Outer wall of north aisle, Trench F........................ 17 3............Culvert (706).......................................................... 20 4............Eastern churchyard wall, Trench H ....................... 22 5............Trenches F, G and I, plan....................................... 23 6............Trench I section ..................................................... 24 7............SK4 ........................................................................ 26 8............SK6 ........................................................................ 27 9............SK1/8 and culvert (706)......................................... 29 10..........Charcoal-rich fill (805) and pit [806] .................... 29 11..........New service pipe entering the church.................... 31 12..........Foundations of north arcade on foundations 905 .. 35 13..........North aisle pier foundation 904 ............................. 35 14..........North aisle half-pier foundation............................. 35 15..........South arcade pier and mortar layer 902................. 36 16 & 17 Glassworking area 906 .......................................... 36 18..........South half-pier ....................................................... 36 19..........Norman doorway ................................................... 37 20..........Norman arch .......................................................... 37 21..........Norman arch: left capital ....................................... 38 22..........Norman arch: right capital..................................... 38 23..........Norman arch: detail .............................................. 38 24..........Grotesque carving.................................................. 39 25..........Blocked doorway in the chancel............................ 40 26..........Settlement above the chancel arch......................... 40 An Archaeological Watching Brief at the parish church of St. Peter, Staple Fitzpaine, Somerset Summary An archaeological watching brief undertaken during ground works for services associated with the installation of new facilities for St Peter’s Church recorded several human skeletons and associated grave cuts dating from the 14 th century onwards. The graves cut a shallow feature full of charcoal and 13 th to 14 th century fire blackened pottery. This has been interpreted as evidence of a churchyard fair. An intact, well constructed stone culvert which might still carry water during wet periods was recorded close to the NW corner of the north aisle. The base of the western face of the north transept has been buried by a thick clay deposit due to raising of the churchyard. Re-flooring of the western bays of the nave and north aisle allowed a view of the bases of the arcade piers. The northern piers were seen to be resting upon a stone and mortar deposit interpreted as the foundations of a former nave wall. Bedding for the new floor rested upon a hard-packed mortar layer interpreted as bedding for earlier floors. The archaeological deposits below the church remained undisturbed. The report finished with a rapid photographic survey of interesting features within the church. 1.0 Introduction 1.1 A small kitchen has been installed into the west end of the north aisle of the parish church of St. Peter in Staple Fitzpaine. This involved three distinct operations: 1. a trench for the supply of water was brought along the northern margin of the churchyard and into the western end of the north aisle; 2. an external inspection chamber was installed and the pipe taken into the north aisle; 3. the perished wooden floor in the most westerly bay of the nave was removed and new Blue Lias paving was installed, involving the removal of soil to the depth of ca. 43cm. Staple Fitzpaine, St Peter’s Church (SFC 13) 1.2 A faculty to carry out these works was granted by the diocese of Bath and Wells with the condition that appropriate archaeological monitoring of the works was undertaken in accordance with the specifications agreed by English Heritage. 1.3 Alan Smith of Smith Gamblin Architects, the architect in charge of the scheme, laid down the following brief for the archaeological investigations: ARCHAEOLOGICAL SCHEME OF INVESTIGATION An archaeologist will attend site whenever the ground within the churchyard is disturbed. All works in relation to a watching brief will be carried out in accordance with specifications outlined in the ‘ Heritage Service Archaeological Handbook’ (Somerset County Council Historic Environment Service (2009)) Human remains, should they be encountered will be similarly treated in accordance with ‘ Guidance for best practice for treatment of human remains excavated from Christian burial grounds in England’ (EH2005). All groundworks in association with the scheme will be monitored and recorded and all relevant information will be presented in a report with copies submitted to the PCC and Taunton Deane Borough Council. If archaeological finds or artefacts are recovered, then copies of the report will also be sent to the County Council Archaeology Department and the Somerset Records Office. Any finds will be cleaned, identified and marked and then donated to the County Museum. 1.4 The archaeological investigations were undertaken by C and N Hollinrake Consultant Archaeologists in compliance with a written scheme of investigation approved by the Diocesan Advisory Council and their archaeological advisor, R. A. Croft, the Somerset County Council Senior Archaeologist. The works proceeded in two phases: • the monitoring of the new pipe trench and the construction of the inspection chamber was undertaken by Dr. John Davey between the 22 nd of January and the 4th of February 2013; • the foundation for the new flagstone floor in the most western bay of the nave was excavated and recorded by Charles and Nancy Hollinrake on the 9 th to the 11 th of September 2013. Page 2 Staple Fitzpaine, St Peter’s Church (SFC 13) 2.0 Topography and Geology 2.1 The parish of Staple Fitzpaine, situated approximately 7km