Monument Type(s):

• CEMETERY (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1540 AD)

Summary

Sporadic discoveries of burials suggest a cemetery, probably the Lay cemetery, occupying the south-east quarter of the site, in the area of Priory Road and the 6th Form College.

Related records

Associated Finds

• FSA378 - COFFIN (11th century to 15th century - 1066 AD to 1499 AD)
• FSA1807 - FLOOR TILE (11th century to 15th century - 1066 AD to 1499 AD)
• FSA511 - HUMAN REMAINS (11th century to 15th century - 1066 AD to 1499 AD)
• FSA512 - HUMAN REMAINS (11th century to 15th century - 1066 AD to 1499 AD)
• FSA379 - RING (15th century to 16th century - 1400 AD to 1500 AD)

Associated Events

• ESA3793 - 1910 discovery of skeletons during building works for the new school
• ESA3794 - 1984 discovery of human remains in a gas pipe trench by Shropshire Museums Service
• ESA4908 - 1996 DBA and buildings assessment of land between Victoria Avenue and Lower Claremont Bank, Shrewsbury by Richard K Morriss & Associates

Description

A figure enclosed in lead, probably one of the knights who fell in the battle of Shrewsbury, some of whom known to have been buried within the Friary precincts, was found in 1910, at c SJ4873 1262 <1>
Six skeletons found at SJ4876 1262 at a depth of 7feet, side by side and without any evidence of a covering, by workmen digging for the heating chamber of the school. The spot was a few yards north of that where the lead-encased figure was found, and is probably the cemetery of the Austin Friars. It is encased within a space which was at one time bounded on the east by the town walls; on the north by a street called `St Austin Friars'; and on the south by a natural amphitheatre. AO/60/225/8. <2>

Sporadic discoveries of burials suggest a cemetery, probably the Lay cemetery, occupying the south-east quarter of the site, in the area of Priory Road and the 6th Form College, possibly confined south of the St Austin's Friars lane and the wall there recorded by J A Morris in 1901. <3>

Workmen digging a gas-pipe trench at the 6th Form College found human bones, which were investigated by Bruce Bennison and Yvette Staelens. Two or three east-west burials had been disturbed, at a depth of 1.0m to 1.5m below contemp. ground level. The burials had been cut through a rough mortar floor surface at a depth of 1.4m below ground, from an undetermined horizon above. The material over the floor was homogenous sandy soil with floor tile fragments and other building debris. One of the burials had an early 15th-century inscribed gold finger ring. <4>

In 1808, Owen noted' the great quantity of human bones that have been from time to time dug up in the precinct' and suggested that many were the victims of periodic famines and plagues. <5>

It is possible that some of these were burials from the interdict in the time of King John and, of course, the friars would have had their own burial ground on the site of their own. <6>

Sources

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