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WARWICKSHIRE HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT RECORD
Information for record number WA529
Site Name and
Summary
A cemetery of medieval date which may have been associated with
Boteler's Castle, Alcester, which lies 200m to the west.
Type:
Period:
Cemetery, Extended Inhumation, Building?
Medieval (1066 AD - 1539 AD)
Location
Parish:
District:
Grid Reference:
Alcester
Stratford on Avon, Warwickshire
SP 08 55
Level of Protection
Old SMR PrefRef
Description
Source Number
1 A group of 16 inhumations was found to the NE of Icknield St during observation of a pipe
trench. The burials were 0.2-1.3m beneath ground surface in red marl, sealed by
occupation debris of Medieval and Roman date. No grave goods were recovered but
sherds of Roman pottery were recovered from the grave fills. If the cemetery was Medieval,
it may have been connected with Boteler's Castle, which which is said to have had a chapel.
The field name evidence (chapel Close, Rough chapel Close, Lower chapel Close) suggests
a Medieval origin for the cemetery.
3 Initial report on above. Same info. Eight of the burials were immature (
25 yrs old), 5 were adult and 3 could not be estimated.
4 The OS records that the cemetery has been dated by radio carbon dating to the C10.
5
6 Radiocarbon dates. One from burial. Other almost certainly form another burial,
definitely from same site. First calibrated to AD 1050 +/- 170 (95%), second to AD 1195
+/- 125. Could both therefore be contemporary with settlement to west (MWA537).
7 Correspondence about an entry in Harwell's Radiocarbon list.
8 Review of the radio carbon dates for HAR 2732 (1000bp +/-80) and HAR 3434 (880bp
+/-70).
9 A radiocarbon date which appears to refer to this site; HAR 3433 (740bp +/-70).
Sources
Source No:
Source Type:
Title:
Author/Originator:
Date:
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
7
Correspondence
C-14 dates from Alcester
Nuclear Applications, Harwell
1985
Source No:
Source Type:
Title:
4
Record Card/Form
OS Card 05NE29
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Author/Originator:
Date:
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
Ordnance Survey
1981
Source No:
Source Type:
Title:
Author/Originator:
Date:
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
1
Serial
WMANS no 20 1977
Ford, D
1977
69
20
Source No:
Source Type:
Title:
8
Serial
Transactions of the Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological
Society (TBAS) Vol 101
Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeology Society
1997
Author/Originator:
Date:
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
05NE29
101
Source No:
Source Type:
Title:
Author/Originator:
Date:
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
5
Unpublished document
Harwell Radiocarbon Dating Certificate
Harwell
1978
Source No:
Source Type:
Title:
Author/Originator:
Date:
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
6
Unpublished document
Harwell Radiocarbon Dating Certificate
Harwell
1979
Source No:
Source Type:
Title:
Author/Originator:
Date:
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
9
Unpublished document
Alcester Pipe Trench Radiocarbon Dating Certificate
Harlow
1980
Source No:
Source Type:
Title:
2
Watching Brief Report
Watching Brief on water pipeline trench, Oversley Parish, Alcester,
Warwickshire
Ford, D
1977
Author/Originator:
Date:
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
All Information (c) Warwickshire County Council
Word or Phrase
OS Card
TBAS
WMANS
Radiocarbon Dating
Roman
Description
Ordnance Survey Record Card. Before the 1970s the Ordnance
Survey (OS) were responsible for recording archaeological
monuments during mapping exercises. This helped the Ordnance
Survey to decide which monuments to publish on maps. During
these exercises the details of the monuments were written down on
record cards. Copies of some of the cards are kept at the
Warwickshire Sites and Monuments Record. The responsibility for
recording archaeological monuments later passed to the Royal
Commission on Ancient and Historic Monuments.
Transactions of the Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological
Society is a journal produced by the society annually. It contains
articles about archaeological field work that has taken place in
Birmingham and Warwickshire in previous years. Copies of the
journal are kept by the Warwickshire Sites and Monuments Record.
West Midlands Archaeological News Sheet, a publication that was
produced each year, this later became West Midlands Archaeology.
The West Midlands Arcaheological News Sheet contains reports
about archaeological work that was carried out in the West Midlands
region in the previous year. It includes information about sites dating
from the Prehistoric to the Post Medieval periods. It was produced
the Department of Extramural Studies at Birmingham University.
Copies are held at the Warwickshire Sites and Monuments Record.
Another name for radiocarbon dating is C14 dating. It is used to find
out how old some archaeological remains are. Archaeologists do this
by measuring the amount of radioactive carbon left in samples of
organic material (from the remains of plants or animals).
organic materials contain radioactive and non-radioactive carbon in
fixed amounts while they are part of living plants or animals. When
the plant or animal dies the radioactive carbon starts to decay. By
comparing the amount of radioactive carbon left in the organic
material with the amount of stable carbon, archaeologists can find out
how old it is.
About 43 AD to 409 AD (the 1st century AD to the 5th century AD)
Roman period comes after the Iron Age and before the Saxon period.
Roman period in Britain began in 43 AD when a Roman commander
called Aulus Plautius invaded the south coast, near Kent. There were
a series of skirmishes with the native Britons, who were defeated. In
the months that followed, more Roman troops arrived and slowly
moved westwards and northwards.[more]
AD 47 they had gone as far southwest as Cornwall, as far west as the
Welsh Border and as far north as the Humber. Although there was
some conflict with the British tribes, native Britons gradually adopted
some aspects of the Roman way of life.
Romans are well known for their ability to organise building on a large
scale. Because many of their buildings were made of stone, often
with tile rooves, the remains survive well in many places. The Roman
period is the earliest period from which there is documentary
evidence, albeit in small quantities, and this also helps us to find out
how they lived.
have discovered evidence of the Romans in many different parts of
Warwickshire. Archaeological sites include settlements at Tiddington
and Tripontium, the Roman towns of Chesterton and Alcester, and
Roman forts at Mancetter and The Lunt at Baginton. Many Roman
objects, such as coins, pots and brooches have been found in the
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county. Some of them were imported from elsewhere in the Roman
Empire. The major Roman roads known as the Fosse Way, Ryknield
Street and Watling Street all run through Warwickshire.
Medieval
1066 AD to 1539 AD (the 11th century AD to the 16th century AD)
medieval period comes after the Saxon period and before the post
medieval period.
Medieval period begins in 1066 AD. was the year that the Normans,
led by William the Conqueror (1066 – 1087), invaded England and
defeated Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings in East Sussex.
Medieval period includes the first half of the Tudor period (1485 –
1603 AD), when the Tudor family reigned in England and eventually in
Scotland too.
end of the Medieval period is marked by Henry VIII’s (1509 –
1547) order for the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the years running
up to 1539 AD. The whole of this period is sometimes called the
Middle Ages.[more]
Normans are well known for building the first motte and bailey castles.
There are a number of these in Warwickshire. Brinklow Castle and
Boteler’s Castle, near Alcester, are fine examples. Warwick
Castle and Kenilworth Castle began their long histories as motte and
bailey castles.
Domesday Book was written in the reign of William the Conqueror. It
was completed in about 1086 AD. is a detailed statement of lands held
by the king and his tenants and of the resources that went with those
lands, for example which manors belonged to which estates. Book
was probably put together so that William knew how much tax he was
getting from the country. It provides archaeologists and historians
with a detailed picture of the size of settlements and the population at
the beginning of the medieval period. Many of these settlements
were later deserted as a result of a number of causes, including
changes to land tenure. In other cases the focal point of settlements
physically shifted. Either way, Warwickshire is well known for the
contrast in types of settlement between the Arden area of the north
west and the Feldon area of the south and east. In the Arden area
medieval settlements were of the small, dispersed type, whilst in the
Feldon area the settlements developed into nucleated villages. Some
medieval deserted settlements in Warwickshire can still be traced as
earthworks. A good example exists at Wormleighton.
of medieval farming survive in many parts of Warwickshire as
earthworks of ridge and furrow cultivation. Ridge and furrow
earthworks show where the land was ploughed so that crops could be
grown. The ridges and furrows formed because successive years of
ploughing caused the soil to be drawn up into ridges whilst the furrows
lying between them became deeper. The fields were ploughed using
a team of oxen pulling a small plough, which was very difficult to turn.
This accounts for why the land was ploughed in long strips and why
fields were left open i.e. without hedges, fences or walls dividing up
the land into smaller pockets.
were much smaller in the medieval period. The people who farmed
the land did not own it. The land belonged to the lord of the manor.
The people farming the land were simply tenants who worked a strip
of land or maybe several strips. This is why medieval farming is
sometimes called strip farming.
the time that Domesday Book was written the only town in what is now
called Warwickshire was Warwick. Documentary evidence shows us
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SITE
SETTLEMENT
INHUMATION
GRAVE
CASTLE
FIELD
CEMETERY
TRENCH
CHAPEL
BURIAL
PIPELINE
that as the years went on more and more markets appeared in the
county. By 1450 there were forty.
towns that grew around the markets were different from the
surrounding villages in their appearance and the type of people who
lived in them. They were larger than the villages and had a more
complicated network of streets and lanes. The towns had an open
space in the centre where a market was held each week. The
houses and workshops that lined the streets had long narrow strips of
land behind them called tenements. Some historic maps show these
medieval build
Unclassifiable site with minimal information. Specify site type
wherever possible.
A small concentration of dwellings.
An interment of unburnt, articulated human remains. Use specific type
where known.
A place of burial. Use more specific type where known.
A fortress and dwelling, usually medieval in origin, and often
consisting of a keep, curtain wall and towers etc.
An area of land, often enclosed, used for cultivation or the grazing of
livestock.
An area of ground, set apart for the burial of the dead.
An excavation used as a means of concealment, protection or both.
A freestanding building, or a room or recess serving as a place of
Christian worship in a church or other building. Use more specific type
where known.
An interment of human or animal remains. Use specific type where
known. If component use with wider site type. Use FUNERARY SITE
for optimum retrieval in searches.
A conduit or pipes, used primarily for conveying petroleum from oil
wells to a refinery, or for supplying water to a town or district, etc.
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