Watching Brief at St. Michael's Church, Crambe

The work comprised the archaeological monitoring during the machine excavation of two French drains and two soak-away trenches (Trenches 1 and 2); one each along the north and south sides of the church. Levelling (105) in Trench 1 probably represents a combination of construction and renovation debris and was similar in nature as levelling (201) in Trench 2. The former path (103) appears to represent a path seen on the 1893 OS map leading to a large building indicated as the 'The Vicarage' (now seen as Kyreham House) to the north from an extant doorway on the northside of the church. The path is seen clearly on the OS map of 1856 and is most likely of early modern date. The foundation (203) within Trench 2 is situated directly in front of a blocked up doorway and most likely represents the protrusion indicated on the OS map of 1893. This probably represented a former porch foundation possibly associated with the Victorian restoration of the church that was completed in 1887. Deposit (205) Trench 2 probably represents grave backfilling however no grave cuts were discernible. The presence of disarticulated human bone would appear to suggest disturbance of earlier possibly medieval graves by later interments. The human bone was carefully collected during excavation and was reburied within the base of the soak-away.