Minchinhampton church in the news

Minch was back in the news today with a short piece in the BBC on the Anne Baynham memorial recently moved to the church narthex. Click here to read.

Urban Archaeology has been recording and researching the monument pro bono for Minchinhampton Local History Group and Holy Trinity Minchinhampton. Most of the memorial is carved from local Painswick Stone, but the effigy is in English Alabaster, a very soft and beautiful stone that would have been carved in a specialist workshop and shipped to the church for assembly by the local monumental mason. There are traces of gilding on the effigy that suggest it may have been partially painted.

As the article says, it is a rare example of an effigial memorial to a child at this time. Anne died aged under a month, but the effigy is of a young child, not a newborn, why is not immediately clear but may be that the family were imagining their daughter as she would have been, rather than as an anonymous swaddled baby.

18th century antiquarian Ralph Bigland tells us the memorial was originally located on the north wall of the chancel and used to include the Baynham coat of arms, when the chancel was demolished in 1842 the memorial was moved and set up in the north transept. Painted numbers on the reverse of each piece show that there were in fact two missing parts of the memorial which were not re-erected. Possibly these were badly damaged so not replaced, repairs to the memorial were crudely done -certainly not by an experienced mason.

The memorial has in fact already been moved and is set up in the church narthex alongside an excellent collection of memorials. The memorial is being 'unveiled' this evening. Research is continuing into the memorial and Anne's family and a full report will be published in due course.

The memorial is included in the new book on Minchinhampton church, available from the church or from Hobnob Press.

Thanks to all at Minchinhampton Local History Group, Holy Trinity, and to Mark Hancock and his team at Centreline Architectural Sculpture who carried out the move.

New archaeological and historical research at Gloucester Cathedral

 

Urban Archaeology has just been awarded £1,000 by the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society to fund documentary research by Rebecca Phillips and Helen Timlin of Shorter and Timlin Archivists Ltd as part of a publication project on Gloucester Cathedral’s Project Pilgrim.

Chiz Harward recording the tile pavement at the south door of Gloucester cathedral

The Heritage Lottery Funded Project Pilgrim delivered major improvements to the internal and external accessibility, layout and appearance of the cathedral with a new cathedral entrance lobby and welcome area, cathedral shop, and access improvements into the east end and access and conservation works in the Lady Chapel. Urban Archaeology carried out excavations during the internal works and significant discoveries were made including evidence for immediate structural failure in the north ambulatory during its construction by Abbot Serlo in the last years of the 11th century; for the layout of the original east end chapel; of a subsequent ‘lost’ 13th century Lady Chapel; and a pavement of reused medieval decorated floor tiles at the south door.

Analysis of the excavation results will be led by Chiz Harward of Urban Archaeology who has worked at the cathedral on several projects over the last decade. Shorter and Timlin Archivists/Rebecca and Helen will search archives for documents relating to the findings including monastic records, account and Chapter books, plans and illustrations.

The B&GAS funded research will place the excavated findings in their full context, adding to our understanding of the development of the building during its time as St Peter’s Abbey, and as the present cathedral. These are exciting times for the archaeology and history of the cathedral site, with several projects nearing completion, and new ones about to start. Gloucester Cathedral is an absolutely fascinating site, and there is so much more to find out! The final paper will be published in the Society’s prestigious annual Transactions.