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Summary

Early medieval/Saxon burials and possible church site off Main Street, Torksey

Full description

PRN 54158
Trial excavation on land to the east of Main Street revealed seven burials. The burials are though to pre-date any buildings on the site making then c.850-1066. They are all orientated east-west, three of the adults and one child were buried in stone cist. A second child is though to also have had a cist type burial, unfortunately there is no direct evidence of this but slabs were recovered close to the burial which is persuasive circumstantial evidence. {1}{2}
A watching brief on the same site revealed further cist burials of similar date. These included one burial which contained a piece of gold thread of a type used in religious vestments in the 8th-12th centuries. This suggests that the man buried in that grave was a priest or other high status religious official and therefore also suggests the presence of an ecclesiastical site prior to the foundation of the priory of St Leonard (PRN 54812). If this was the case then the burials seen at the site may have been located within or close to the chancel of a church, although the limited scope of the investigations did not allow structural remains of this church to be identified. A full skeletal analysis was carried out on all the burials from this investigation and the previous trial trenching. {3}{4}

<1> Lindsey Archaeological Services, 2002, Main Street, Torksey Medical Centre, THAN01 (Report). SLI8597.

<2> Lindsey Archaeological Services, 2002, Mains Street, Torksey Medical Centre, LCNCC:2001.109 (Archive). SLI8598.

<3> Lindsey Archaeological Services, 2005, Main Street, Torksey: Archaeological Watching Brief, TOMS03 (Report). SLI11280.

<4> Lindsey Archaeological Services, 2005, Main Street, Torksey: Archaeological Watching Brief, LCNCC 2003.109 (Archive). SLI11281.

Monument Types

• BURIAL (Early Medieval/Dark Age - 850 AD to 1065 AD)
• CHURCH? (Early Medieval/Dark Age - 850 AD to 1065 AD)
• CIST (Early Medieval/Dark Age - 850 AD to 1065 AD)
• INHUMATION (Early Medieval/Dark Age - 850 AD to 1065 AD)

Associated Finds

• TEXTILE (Early Medieval/Dark Age to Medieval - 700 AD to 1199 AD)
• HUMAN REMAINS (Early Medieval/Dark Age to Medieval - 850 AD to 1066 AD)

Associated Events

• Trial trenching in advance of the new Medical Centre, Torksey
• Geophysical survey on land at Torksey
• Trial trenching at land off Main Street, Torksey
• Watching brief on land off Main Street, Torksey

Sources and further reading

Related records

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