NHER 63087 (Monument record) - Medieval to post-medieval features, churchyard of St Andrew's Church

May-July 2012. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of groundworks associated with construction of extension to St Andrew’s Church (NHER 6520).
A series of foundation and service trenches were excavated between the church and the site of the new building in the garden area to the south of the churchyard.
Trenches close to the church itself exposed the foundation trenches for the south porch and south aisle, which were wider and deeper than the foundations themselves. Although the fills of the foundation trenches contained several medieval floor tiles it is likely that these were debris from the rebuilding of the church in the 18th or 19th century.
Three graves of possible medieval date were recorded immediately to the south of the south porch and several post-medieval graves were also partially disturbed. The post-medieval internments included two brick-built graves to the west of the porch, a brick-lined table tomb to the east of the porch, and a further brick-lined tomb with a vaulted roof located to the south-east. The only human remains directly disturbed during the works were contained in the table tomb to the east of the porch. The remains were of a woman wearing a gold mourning ring dedicated to Sir Christopher Myngs (d. 1666), identifying the woman as his daughter Rebecca Blyford (d. 1734).
Other post-medieval features identified within the graveyard included a possible former track to the south-east of the porch and a flint-built cistern to the south. The latter may relate to a former boiler house believed to have been constructed in the early 20th century and demolished ahead of these building works.
Unstratified finds recovered from the graveyard soils disturbed by the groundworks included medieval and post-medieval roof tiles, clay tobacco pipe fragments and a small number of undated metal objects.
See report (S1) for further details.
For further information on the mourning ring see description in file and wills (S2) and (S3).
See NHER 55058 for details of the features revealed on the site of the new building itself, beyond the limits of the churchyard.
Previously recorded under NHER 55058.
The archive associated with this work has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2012.221).
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 15 November 2018 and 16 May 2019.