Monument record MDO19592 - Junction of Newland and St Swithin's Road; inhumation cemetery

15 inhumations were discovered during the excavation of foundation trenches for a new house at the junction of Newland and St Swithins Road, Sherborne during 1955. These may represent part of a graveyard associated with a putative St Swithins chapel.

Evidence for an inhumation cemetery was observed by C E Bean during the excavation of foundation trenches for a new house at the junction of Newland and St Swithin’s Road in 1955.

At least 15 burials were recorded, including children and the elderly, in shallow uncoffined graves. The partial remains of two were excavated, one with the right arm under the body, but no dateable finds were recovered. Unstratified 12th-14th century pottery and a 14th-15th century silver gilt oval brooch were found on the site. The brooch was inlaid with garnets and alternate gilt leaves around the edge. This part of Newland was formerly called St. Swithin’s Street and may have been the site of a fair dedicated to him, although no record exists of any chapel or church dedicated to him.

Burials were reported to have been found when St Swithin’s Road and North Road were constructed and old people say that more were found on land to the south of Newland, immediately opposite The Avenue. Furthermore, Hutchins’, 1815 mentions ‘a timber yard where human bones are found, supposed site of Church or Chapel’ in a note on his Sherborne town map. <1>

A more precise grid reference for the above burials would be ST 64151685. <2>

ST 64151685: At least 15 inhumations were discovered in 1955 at the junction of Newland Road and St Swithin's Road. 12th and 14th century pottery was found at the site, but these may have been later than the inhumations. <3>

A further undated burial was recorded during a watching brief at Island House, Newland during July 1997 <4>.

Two of the excavated burials were unfurnished and had no evidence for coffins. No dateable evidence was found with the burials but it has been suggested the burials may be Saxon in date. <5>

Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1950, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1949, 67-68 (Serial). SDO49.

<1> Bean, C E, 1955, Remains of old road metal and other discoveries in Sherborne; Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 145 (Article in serial). SDO10247.

<2> Bean, C E, 1956, Newland and Hound Street, Sherborne; Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 88 (Article in serial). SDO10311.

<3> Meaney, A L, 1964, A Gazetteer of Early Anglo-Saxon burial sites, 80 (Bibliographic reference). SWX4310.

<4> Heaton, M, 1997, Archaeological Watching Brief at Island House, Newland, Sherborne (Unpublished document). SDO10384.

<5> Cherryson, A K, 2006, Gazetteer of Early Medieval Sites, 38 (Unpublished document). SDO17464.

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1235382 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 23 2024 1:08PM