SDO17317 - St Peter's Church, Portesham, Dorset

'Context One Heritage & Archaeology (C1) carried out archaeological monitoring and recording at St Peter’s Church, Portesham, Dorset as a condition of Faculty Approval for a new sewer. St Peter’s is a Grade I Listed building predominantly of 13th century date but with 12th century remains in the nave. An archaeological evaluation was carried out by C1 in 2019 in the area immediately west of the tower, to help inform proposals for the installation of a new w.c. within the west tower and a kitchenette at the west end of the nave. Following the discovery of two child burials at only 0.38m below the present ground surface, the favoured solution of installing a tank for removing waste from the church was abandoned. Instead, the second option was pursued, entailing installation of a waste pipe to connect with the mains sewage. The evaluation established that the proposed route of the new waste pipe to the west of the tower would traverse ground that had previously been disturbed by a service trench for electrics. The new inspection chamber location here was excavated by hand to ascertain whether the burial horizon extended close to the church but this was found not to be the case, the ground also being previously disturbed. However, the depth of the archaeological horizon along the remainder of the new waste pipe route (beneath the church path) and within an additional new inspection chamber was unknown and the excavations therefore had the potential to encounter archaeological remains. The excavation of the sewer pipe trench and the inspection chamber south-south-west of the tower revealed a simple sequence of modern topsoil, over a disturbed subsoil, directly above a deep soil containing disarticulated human remains. No grave cuts could be identified within the narrow confines of the pipe trench however much of the human bone was most likely derived from centuries of disturbance from the cutting of new graves and raising up of the graveyard. A third child burial was found during the excavation of the inspection chamber to the west of the tower; this chamber should have been located within disturbed ground however in the event it was necessary to shift it slightly to the west into an area undisturbed by modern activity. This burial was encountered at the same depth as the previous two individuals and had been placed within a shallow, concave grave cut into the chalk subsoil. The estimated age of the child was 6/7 years old, with the ages of the other two burials estimated at 2 years old and around 8/9 years old. The shallowness of the graves would suggest they were carried out hurriedly and without the permission of the church. It is not unreasonable to suggest that the children may have been from the same family.'