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Summary

Churchyard first documented in 1545, but possibly dating from the 9th century.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• CEMETERY (IX to XVII - 801 AD? (Between) to 1700 AD (Between))

Full description

Reed, M. A., 1985, Pilton: Its Past and People, 63 (Monograph). SDV366366.

The piscina of St. James' chapel was found built into an old wall during construction work in the former cemetery in the 18th century.

Clarke, W., 2020, Anglo-Saxon Barnstaple and Pilton: New Perspectives on Old Settlements, 68 (Article in Serial). SDV366291.

An old cemetery exists at the east end of Bellaire. Dark Lane may represent a fossilized boundary for this, with Bellaire and various existing private paths possibly extending the circuit.
The earliest documentary evidence is in 1545, when it was described as ‘Seynt James Churchyd’ in the post-Dissolution land sale. A petition for a chantry in the chapel of St. James was made between 1208 and 1222, probably nearer 1222; thereafter it vanishes from the ecclesiastical record.
Various documents including Victorian memoranda allow the site ownership to be traced from 1650, and located just south and east of the Bellaire-Church Lane junction. There, an orchard ‘now divided by the Church Path’ was the cemetery.
Human bone discovered by chance in private land from the south-western cemetery area was dated in 2018 to 893-1015AD (at 95.4% probability). The skeleton was found approximately 25m south of the house suggested to be on or near the former chapel. There the bones were recorded as ‘most perfect and most regularly deposited’. North-east of the path, they were ‘more decomposed’. The distance between the putative chapel and dated burial, and the fact that it lies in the apparently later burial zone would suggest that burials on the north-eastern side (now Orchard House) may be substantially older.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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