Information for record number MWA13512:
Early Medieval cemetery, Centenary Gardens, Stratford-upon-Avon

Summary A series of sixteen graves, dating from between the 7th and 9th centuries, were recorded during flood compensation works in Centenary Gardens. The burials were mostly adults and displayed a range of pathologies, indicating joint disease, infections and dental disease.
What Is It?  
Type: Cemetery, Inhumation
Period: Early medieval (600 AD - 900 AD)
Where Is It?  
Parish: Stratford upon Avon
District: Stratford on Avon, Warwickshire
Grid Reference: SP 20 54
(Data represented on this map shows the current selected record as a single point, this is for illustrative purposes only and does not represent an accurate or complete representation of archaeological sites or features)
Level of Protection Local
Description

  
Source Number  

1 A series of sixteen graves, dating from between the 7th and 9th centuries, were recorded during flood compensation works in Centenary Gardens. The burials were mostly adults and displayed a range of pathologies, indicating joint disease, infections and dental disease. The burials were all supine and extended on a west-east alignment suggesting deliberate burial. The four northern most burials are thought to indicate the boundary of the cemetery as no boundary was found, however burials may extend to the north. One cut was an oval pit and contained skeletal remains of several adults and one juvenile. These burials were irregular in nature and may suggest that they are from a charnel house. A number of unstratified disarticulated human bone was also present across the site.
 
Sources
Source No: 1
Source Type: Archaeological Report
Title: Flood Compensation Works, Centenary Gardens, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire
Author/originator: Ives R
Date: 2010
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet: Project No 30054
   
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Glossary

 
Word or Phrase
Description  
period Medieval 1066 AD to 1539 AD (the 11th century AD to the 16th century AD)

The medieval period comes after the Saxon period and before the post medieval period.

The Medieval period begins in 1066 AD.
This was the year that the Normans, led by William the Conqueror (1066 – 1087), invaded England and defeated Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings in East Sussex.
The Medieval period includes the first half of the Tudor period (1485 – 1603 AD), when the Tudor family reigned in England and eventually in Scotland too.

The end of the Medieval period is marked by Henry VIII’s (1509 – 1547) order for the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the years running up to 1539 AD. The whole of this period is sometimes called the Middle Ages.
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monument SITE * Unclassifiable site with minimal information. Specify site type wherever possible. back
monument INHUMATION * An interment of unburnt, articulated human remains. Use specific type where known. back
monument BOUNDARY * The limit to an area as defined on a map or by a marker of some form, eg. BOUNDARY WALL. Use specific type where known. back
monument GRAVE * A place of burial. Use more specific type where known. back
monument PIT * A hole or cavity in the ground, either natural or the result of excavation. Use more specific type where known. back
monument CEMETERY * An area of ground, set apart for the burial of the dead. back
monument BURIAL * An interment of human or animal remains. Use specific type where known. If component use with wider site type. Use FUNERARY SITE for optimum retrieval in searches. back
monument GARDEN * An enclosed piece of ground devoted to the cultivation of flowers, fruit or vegetables and/or recreational purposes. Use more specific type where known. back
monument CHARNEL HOUSE * A building where the bones of the dead were stored. back
monument WORKS * Usually a complex of buildings for the processing of raw materials. Use specific type where known. back

* Copyright of English Heritage (1999)

English Heritage National Monuments Record