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Summary

Watching brief on a cutting of trench along the inside of north wall of churchyard carried out in August 1983. The upper soil was mostly loose loam containing fragments of 19th century pottery and also some building materials and earlier post-medieval pottery.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1020567: Totnes Priory

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX86SW/298

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• FINDSPOT (Early Medieval to XXI - 1066 AD to 2009 AD (Between))

Full description

Griffith, D. M., 1983, Totnes Churchyard Watching Brief (Report - Watching Brief). SDV350823.

Watching brief on a cutting of trench along the inside of north wall of churchyard carried out in August 1983. The upper soil was mostly loose loam containing fragments of 19th century pottery and also some building materials and earlier post-medieval pottery.

Keystone Historic Buildings Consultants, 1996, Assessment of Civic Centre Area, Totnes (Report - Assessment). SDV340328.

A Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey was conducted at St Mary’s Church in Totnes, Devon. The survey covered approximately 2800m² in the churchyard. A number of anomalies which may be caused by burials were found. Further anomalies possibly associated with foundations were identified south-east and north-west of the area together with potential services in the northern part.

Discrete, complex and planar features have been identified at depths between 0.20 and 1.70 metres, and are thought to be related to potential burials with backfill. The spatial dimensions of many of the anomalies is approximately 1x2 metres, and they appear to be aligned in an east-west orientation, both of which are characteristics typical of graves. Smaller responses have also been detected. Anomalies related to graveslabs with burials beneath were also found. Differences in the responses of the graves could be due to differing size, age, the presence or lack of backfill material, depth, preservation state, and the presence of a coffin and/or grave slab.

Horner, B., 1998, A bag of pottery labelled "Totnes Churchyard". (Personal Comment). SDV350824.

A bag of pottery labelled "Totnes Churchyard" and thought to be from this excavation was handed to the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter, in March 1998. Modern material was discarded. Retained material includes; 2 sherds 17th century saintonge green and brown dish; 2 sherds westerwald ware; 2 sherds Bristol yellow slipware; 15 assorted sherds of Totnes type earthenware; 1 18th century clay pipe bowl; a South Somerset ware sherd; a fragment of Totnes type ceramic roof tile or crest; a whetstone. All identified by John Allan.

Ordnance Survey, 2013, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV350786.

Udyrysz, M. + Clark, A., 2018, St Mary’s Churchyard, Totnes, Devon: Geophysical Survey (Report - Geophysical Survey). SDV360973.

A Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey was conducted at St Mary’s Church in Totnes, Devon. The survey covered approximately 2800m² in the churchyard. A number of anomalies which may be caused by burials were found. Further anomalies possibly associated with foundations were identified south-east and north-west of the area together with potential services in the northern part.

Discrete, complex and planar features have been identified at depths between 0.20 and 1.70 metres, and are thought to be related to potential burials with backfill. The spatial dimensions of many of the anomalies is approximately 1x2 metres, and they appear to be aligned in an east-west orientation, both of which are characteristics typical of graves. Smaller responses have also been detected. Anomalies related to graveslabs with burials beneath were also found. Differences in the responses of the graves could be due to differing size, age, the presence or lack of backfill material, depth, preservation state, and the presence of a coffin and/or grave slab.

An anomaly possibly related to a structure has been found at depths 0.20-1.00 metres. This is found in the south east of the church yard. It seems that this could be related to a defensive structure due to the priory’s troubled history.

A complex, linear discrete feature has been recognised running across the path on the east side of the church at a depth of 0.20-0.30 metres. There is no obvious explanation for this but it may be of archaeological interest. Given its positioning perpendicular to the path it may be related to a wall, if so it is almost certainly debris and not intact.

On the south-east corner of the chancel an anomaly has been identified which likely relates to a railed chest tomb visible in old photographs of the church.

Around the north-east elevation of the church there are numerous anomalies at depths of 0.80-1.55 metres. These could be related to the priory’s walls or could be previous chest tombs which have since been moved. Due to their proximity to the path it is difficult to identify
these accurately.

Along the path shallow linear features can be seen. These may be related to a previous path along the same route but are more likely related to the current path. The 45° edges of modern pathways frequently cause reflection in radar results leading to anomalies such as those found in Example Radargram 7.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds

• FDV4339 - POT (Early Medieval to Post Medieval - 1066 AD to 1750 AD)

Associated Events

• EDV5950 - Geophysical Survey, St Mary's Church, Totnes
• EDV7528 - Geophysical Survey: St Mary’s Churchyard, Totnes, Devon (Ref: 12233)

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