Church Archaeology The Background

Background research and the church wall fabric

Archaeology provides important insights into the history of a church and the community it serves which can inform us growth in the population in rural settlements or urban towns. The medieval archaeologist will have researched this by looking through documents and parish records, wills and funding from the Bishop Diocesan. After 1250AD, any alterations to the structure of the church building or its churchyard required an Episcopal license known as a Faculty.

(The three stone carvings that are located at a ruin church in the north east of England located by myself)    

This can provide dating evidence of any alterations to the building and its churchyard. By this time all medieval parish churches were in existence. This means that the origins of all but a handful are unrecorded. The lack of documentary evidence for church foundation allows us to say something important about the value of archaeological evidence.

Parish churches also had the responsibility of keeping the parishioners wills in parish chest, which is helpful as it will show finance or contribution towards the church repairs, and give datable evidence as to when the repairs were carried out. The congregation was responsible for the maintenance of the fabric funds whilst the rector was responsible for the chancel. Large maintenance work or enlargement of the parish or urban church would be applied from the Bishop.

These records are kept in the diocesan record library. As we have noted the documents provided a bulk of the evidence that we need for accurate dating of the church. When on site the church mortar can be used. The early churches were covered in decorative wall plaster. These early churches were often rebuilt or enlarged by adding aisles to the nave with square, cylindrical or, later, compound pillars. Some parish churches also were highly decorated with paintings of Christianity in mind. This picture was taken at St Mary's church in Yorkshire next to an abbey.

We can take samples of mortar from the church building and examine it in the laboratory, this type of technique can inform us of different phases of construction. This technique is called thermoluminescence the process works ‘examine the effects of radioactive impurities on the crystal structure of minerals. The use of aerial photographs has aided the archaeologist to find long lost churches and chapels and highlighting earthworks in the churchyard that might be missed on the ground or hard to workout on ground level. The archaeologist has relied on isolated churches informing them of a deserted medieval village however, not all isolated churches means that a village maybe found.

In the 13th century, the British Isles population increased than it had been in the 1086 this caused the churches in urban and village settlement, responded to the increase of the population by lengthening the chancel and heightening the arches, along with pushing the chancel eastwards. The increase in size could also reflect the church organisation’s increasing wealth. The final rebuilding of churches did not take place again until the 19h century. The nave of the church may have also been widened and pushed westwards, along with the construction of side aisles or transepts and the construction of porches. Evidence of the change in the medieval church will be seen in the wall fabric where buttress with integral plinths terminated at new and old work

The medieval masons reused Saxon Masonry, which was incorporated into the church wall fabric. Reused Saxon gravestones, sundials and Saxon crosses can give clues as to where the church once stood and the use of old Roman Bricks and Tiles give the archaeologist a clue that a Roman Villa or Fort may have once stood close by the site of the church. Stone was expensive and this accounted for the use of so much reused material, which is often to be found within the fabric of the wall. In the chalklands, the use of flint to construct the church was very much widely used by the Masons in building these wonderful churches

Archaeological stratification is used in open excavations but we can apply the same principle to standing structure such as the medieval church by looking at each stratum. The best way to explain this further if we found a blocked up door one piece must be older than the other. Architectural dating is based on ‘style’ associations and typology, and archaeological dating mainly used objects recorded from the ground At St Mary’s church in Gainford. From further investigation carried out using documents, evidence found that the chancel and nave was rebuilt in the 12th century, the chancel was then extended when the church was completely remoulded. In the early part of the 12th century, and caused the nave to become out of line.

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