Recent discoveries at All Saints Cathedral, Wakefield, West Yorkshire

The archaeological investigations conducted in advance of reordering the nave for Wakefield Cathedral Chapter’s ‘Project 2013’ provide the first scientific dating evidence to support the suspected Anglo-Saxon origins of the church, although no corresponding building remains were identified. Additionally, the south side of a probable Norman church was recorded beneath the columns of the south arcade but much of the north side had probably been removed during late 19th-century renovations. It is suggested that the Norman church was both smaller and of a simpler form than previously thought. Masons’ marks on the stonework of the 14th-century arcades indicate the work of 22 individuals and suggest that the aisles were either constructed at slightly different times or by teams of stonemasons. The majority of the burials beneath the nave were Georgian and Victorian in date and were consistent with high-status intramural burials of the period.