The three pews and their associated pew platforms were removed prior to the arrival of the archaeologist. The north side pew at the west end of the nave was situated above heating pipes, so no reduction took place; instead, the area was boarded at floor level. The areas beneath the pews at the east end of the nave were exposed, and a small amount of ground reduction was undertaken by hand, to a depth of 0.22m below the current floor level. The resultant spoil was visually scanned for finds. Where archaeological horizons were encountered, they were cleaned by hand and excavated appropriately. Standard John Moore Heritage Services techniques were employed throughout, involving the completion of a written record for each deposit encountered, with scale plans and section drawings compiled where appropriate. A photographic record was also produced. The area underneath the north side pew at the west end of the nave was not investigated, as no reduction took place. The earliest features in the areas underneath the pews at the east end of the nave were probably pew foundation walls 01, 02, and 04. Though the handmade bricks were not uniform, the three brick structures were very similar, and were probably constructed contemporaneously. The size of the bricks used in the construction of walls 01, 02, and 04 roughly equates to bricks made in England during the later medieval period in the 14th to 16th centuries (McComish 2015: 24-25), which coincides with the introduction of fixed pew seating in English churches (Heales 1872; Viola and Barna 2001), and during a time when St Mary's Church in Long Wittenham underwent multiple phases of development (JMHS 2019). Structure 06 was a brick burial barrel vault, dating to the post-medieval period. The minimal depth of excavation during the works did not allow further investigation of the feature. Deposits (03) and (05) were very similar in colour, compaction, and composition, and were probably contemporaneous layers, deposited in the post-medieval period. Finally, the uppermost layers in both areas were the machine-cut timbers, which were installed in the late post-medieval to modern period, to create a platform to which the pews could be affixed.
Scott Gordon (Sat,) studied this question.