Background

Royal Commission on Historical Monuments describes the church as being of rubble with local sandstone dressing and a roof of Welsh slate or tiles. The earliest detail of the church is the late Norman south doorway, with a round head with continuous roll-moulded inner order. The adjoining wall that leads to the nave also dates to the 12^th century.

Early rebuilding of the church began in about 1280 and extended into the 14^th century. The nave and chancel were rebuilt in c1320 along with the now-blocked north door.

The west tower is a 15^th-16^th century addition, with an embattled parapet of two stages separated by a string, with the walls of the upper part of the tower being narrower. It has a stone plinth and 4 diagonal buttress that are offset. The west window has 2 cinquefoil-headed lights set beneath a flat 2 centred head. The east doorway has possible been inserted into the west wall of the nave, with a recess above that may be an earlier window. It has a cambered head and is of the same style as the central window in the north wall of the nave. The lower section of the window has been cut for the doorway. The doorway is surrounded by a moulded label in a usual perpendicular style (1377-1547).

Built into the east wall of the upper tower is a reused water basin. During the monitoring work, the old wooden bell frame was being replaced by a modern steel frame that will house 6 bells, the largest of which has just been recast.

The north vestry and the south porch are late 19^th century additions, although the porch is possibly reused.

Within the churchyard is the base and shaft of a medieval cross that is now surmounted by what is possibly a 12^th century capital from the south doorway.

St Andrew’s Church, like Hampton Bishop, and others in the vicinity of Hereford, was subject to the Cathedral, with the inhabitants being compelled to take their dead to Hereford for burial. After many complaints of the hardships caused by this practice an agreement was reached whereby poorer members of the parish were permitted to be buried at Allensmore. A cemetery (the present churchyard) was consecrated for this purpose by Bishop Adam Orleton in 1318.

Fieldwork

The trenches to the north of the church ran east-west, with small trenches orientated north-east/south-west connecting drainpipes to the main service trench. No archaeology was observed in these.

East of the church

The north-south trench to the east of the church ran from the north-east corner of the vestry to the south-east corner of the chancel. The trench had one small extension that ran to the east, connecting a drainpipe to the main trench.

In the north-east corner the trench was excavated to a depth of 302.33m OD through a turf and topsoil layer (1) and well mixed reddish-brown, dry, compact silty clay with inclusions of cobble, stone, and disarticulated human bone (2).

A small fragment of lead glazed Staffordshire slipware from the late 18^th/19^th century was recovered from the spoil heap.

South of the church

The trench to the south of the church was orientated east-west and ran from the east end of the chancel to the drain pipe east of the porch. The trench had two small extensions that ran to the north to connect 2 drainpipes to the main drainage trench.

The east corner of the trench was excavated to a depth of 303.65m OD through layers 1 and 2, and to 304.23m OD in the west corner. The trench had 1 small extension that headed north, connecting a drainpipe to the main service trench.

Archaeological features were found to the south of the church. A brick lined grave was uncovered 0.25m below present ground level (between 303.65m – 304.23m OD) to the west of the post hole. The grave was orientated roughly east-west and was capped with flagstones. The brick lining was at least four courses deep. The bricks were handmade and approx 0.20m by 0.05m, and probably date from before 1850 as they are without a frog.

A substantial post hole was found close to the south-east corner of the Chancel. The post hole (3) was packed on all sides with large cut sandstone blocks (4) and the decomposed post (5) was still visible in the middle. The post was possibly from a gate associated with the former path, or a wooden grave marker.

edge of brick vault

A fragment of gravestone was found in spoil from the trench to the south of the church. It is approximately 0.12m by 0.20m, and 0.05m thick. The carving is a leaf motif, possibly from the top or border of a gravestone.

Another gravestone (8) was left in-situ. The gravestone was upright, on its side, roughly orientated north south. The stone was close to a drainpipe, and may have been used to channel water from the church.

The manhole area

This 1m square was dug to a depth of 302.67m OD and cut through layers 1 and 2. In the south section of the east west trench, just east of the manhole, was a small human skull (10) that was recorded but left in-situ, and probably belonged to an articulated burial that was orientated east-west. The skull was at a depth of 303.27m OD. An iron coffin handle (SF 1) was recovered from the area of the skull and nails were recorded but left in-situ.

Trench running south-west  from the church

The trench ran roughly south-west from the church towards the south boundary wall of the graveyard, stopping approx 1m from the wall.

The trench was excavated to a depth of 302.67m OD at the north end and 303.00m OD at the south. The trench cut through layers 1 and 2.

It is likely that articulated human burials were disturbed during the excavation of this trench. Broken fragments of human bone were observed in 3 areas of the spoil, including fragments of skull, leg bones and arm bones. It is possibly that these bones were from articulated burials orientated east-west.

Due to the width of the trench (0.30m) it was difficult to observe any grave cuts within the sections.

Conclusions

The archaeological monitoring at St Andrew’s showed that human remains were present within 1m of the ground surface. The shallowest of the burials was only 0.25m below the ground surface to the south of the church, and was brick lined with flagstone caps.

The second burial was 0.60m below the surface. Both were orientated east-west.

It is possible that burials were disturbed in the trench running south from the church. At least one leg bone was observed in the east section, and bones were recovered from the spoil heap. However, the size of the trench, and given that disarticulated bones are common in grave yards, it is difficult to establish whether the bones were from articulated burials.

A gravestone was found that had possibly been reused in former work on the drainpipes, and a fragment of gravestone was recovered from the spoil heap. A reused gravestone can also be seen in the east boundary wall of the churchyard.

reused gravestone in churchyard wall

Click to download file

Reporting

Unpublished report - St Andrew’s Church, Allensmore, Herefordshire: archaeological monitoring - Daniel Lewis, 2004

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