Exploring the legacy of Ethelburga – a community project focused on the Anglo-Saxon heritage of Lyminge, a village in the Elham Valley in East Kent.
The path to the burial site On a beautiful warm afternoon, with the cow parsley in full flower, the villagers who were disturbed during the archaeological excavation of Queen Ethelburga's church were again laid to rest. Readers of this blog will remember a few encounters with these villagers of the past. We excavated eight graves … Continue reading Laying our ancestors to rest
We have now lifted the last of the burials that we intend to excavate in the chancel of the Anglo-Saxon church. We are now confident that burial did not start in this area until after the church was demolished, probably in the 13th Century. We are also confident that the odd 'niches' cut in the … Continue reading Day 35 -Exploring the loose ends
When we began to excavate burials within the chancel of the Anglo-Saxon church, we thought it was likely they were later medieval and not contemporary with the church itself. Up to now we have found no finds to give any kind of date. However, at last we have some pottery, from what appears to be … Continue reading Day 34 – Confirmation of some earlier speculation
The trench in the New Churchyard east of the War Memorial continues to reveal new features, so we now have quite an array of pits and postholes. At the eastern end of the trench, we now have the foundation of a significant wall. We don't have anything dating this currently, but this could be associated … Continue reading Day 32 – More activity in the New Churchyard
We are continuing to excavate the burials within the chancel of the Anglo-Saxon church in order to see if we can understand when burial began. We think this was probably in the later medieval period, after the Anglo-Saxon church was demolished, but this is an hypothesis we have to test by digging. The observant amongst … Continue reading Day 27 -Exploring the boundaries of our dig
We were delighted to welcome Carly Hilts, Editor of the popular magazine Current Archaeology, to the site yesterday. There is planned to be a short feature in the next issue and then a longer article in the issue after that. Work continued in the chancel yesterday, excavating more burials including the adult whose torso and … Continue reading Day 26 – Broadening the coverage
We are now into the second half of the dig and we need to consider very carefully where we deploy our resources to ensure that we excavate everything of importance by the end of the excavation on 31 August. One priority is to understand what is happening inside the church, so we are continuing to … Continue reading Day 25 – A pause to assess priorities
We have at last got to inspect in more detail the area where we think the west wall of the nave lay. When this area was cleaned initially back on Day 10, there was a fragment of the tell-tale pink mortar in a place that would make the nave twice the length of the chancel. … Continue reading Day 23 – The west wall revealed
We have begun to uncover the first burial within the chancel, which is up against the eastern wall of the Anglo-Saxon apse. This is a prominent position in the church. As the body is of a juvenile, perhaps 8 or 9 years old, it seems unlikely that this is a burial that took place when … Continue reading Day 22 – Face to face with a villager of the past
After the big excitement of yesterday finding the column fragment, we have put more effort into reducing the interior of the chancel. This is ground that was not dug by Canon Jenkins. As expected, we have found burials. What is not clear yet is whether these were intentionally buried in the Anglo-Saxon church while it … Continue reading Day 21 – Continuing to explore the chancel and more
