All Saints Churchyard, Coleshill, Oxfordshire: Archaeological Monitoring and Recording

The programme of AMR included the observation by a competent archaeologist of all intrusive groundworks associated with the churchyard wall repairs. These works comprised the mechanical excavation of a single trench (Trench 1), measuring 16m in length, 3.7m in width, to a maximum depth of 1.5m below present ground level (bpgl), to enable the removal of the foundations of the north section of the churchyard wall. A total of six articulated human burials were identified and the groundworks were temporarily halted until the Diocesan Registry and ODAA were informed and permission was granted to continue with the groundworks. Where disturbance was unavoidable, the human remains were excavated in accordance with CA Technical Manual 1: Fieldwork Recording Manual, and were stored in All Saints Church to await reburial in a nearby location after completion of the works on site, in accordance with the approved WSI In March 2025, Cotswold Archaeology carried out a programme of archaeological monitoring and recording during groundworks associated with graveyard wall restoration at All Saints Churchyard, Coleshill, Oxfordshire. A north-east/south-west aligned ditch was the observed at the base of the monitored trench. A single sherd of pottery of 5th to 8th-century date and two sherds of pottery of 12th to 15thcentury date were recovered from its fills. Six articulated, broadly north-east/south-west aligned, inhumation burials were identified, along with associated coffin fixtures and fittings. Disarticulated charnel material was also recovered from the overlying graveyard soils. All of the recovered human remains were reburied within the churchyard at the conclusion of the groundworks, as agreed in the previously approved Written Scheme of Investigation. The construction cut for cemetery wall (as repaired by these groundworks) was recorded cutting the earliest identified graveyard soil and is considered likely to represent a postmedieval addition to the churchyard.