Burial Crypts and Vaults in Britain and Ireland: a Biographical Approach
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18778/0208-6034.35.02Keywords:
biography, Britain, burial shaft, coffins, crypt, vaultAbstract
The range of post-medieval burial structures found in Britain and Ireland defined by Julian Litten in 1985 are reviewed in the light of more recent discoveries. The degree of variability within each of these – lined burial shafts, small family vaults, large family vaults, and communal crypts – can now be evaluated. Using the biography of objects approach for the first time on mortuary data, the changing agency of coffins over their use-lives is considered, with varying degree of visibility during the stages between construction and final deposition. The biography of vaults is indicated through a selection of burial structures, revealing patterns of use over time. Issues of space management, in some cases with considerable overcrowding and movement of coffins, is seen to be problem only with communal crypts. Shafts and vaults were predominantly for few generations, apart from some elite family where the same space could be used over several centuries.
Downloads
References
Boore J.J. (1986), The Church of St Augustine the Less, Bristol: an Interim Statement, “Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society”, 104, p. 211–214.
Google Scholar
Boston C. (2007), Rycote Chapel Coffins in the Crypt, Thame, Oxfordshire (unpublished archaeological watching brief report, Oxford Archaeology, Oxford).
Google Scholar
Boston C., Boyle A., Gill J., Witkin A. (2009), “In the Vaults beneath”. Archaeological Recording at St George’s Church, Bloomsbury, Oxford Archaeology, Oxford (Oxford Archaeology Monograph, 8).
Google Scholar
Boyle A., Boston C., Witkin A. (2005), The Archaeological Experience at St Luke’s Church, Old Street, Islington, Oxford Archaeology, Oxford.
Google Scholar
Brickley M., Buteux S. (2006), St. Martin’s Uncovered. Investigations in the Churchyard of St. Martin’s-in-the-Bull Ring, Birmingham, 2001, Oxbow Books Limited, Oxford.
Google Scholar
Buteux S. (2017), A ‘Mercantile Marie Celeste’: The Newman Brothers Coffin Furniture Works in Brirmingham’s Jewellery Quarter, “The Archaeologist”, 89, p. 46–53.
Google Scholar
Butler L.A.S., Morris R. (1994), Derby Cathedral: The Cavendish Vault, “Derbyshire Archaeological Journal”, 116, p. 14–28.
Google Scholar
Cherryson A. (2018), Dressing for the Grave: The Archaeological Evidence for the Preparation an Presentation of the Corpse in Post-Medieval England, [in:] H. Mytum, L.E. Burgess (ed.), Death across Oceans. Archaeology of Coffins and Vaults in Britain, America and Australia, Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, Washington DC, p. 37–55.
Google Scholar
Cherryson A., Crossland Z., Tarlow S. (2012), A Fine and Private Place. The Archaeology of Death and Burial in Post-Medieval Britain and Ireland, University of Leicester, Leicester (Leicester Archaeology Monograph, 22).
Google Scholar
Church R.A., Smith B.M.D. (1966), Competition and Monopoly in the Coffin Furniture Industry, 1870–1915, “Economic History Review”, 19, p. 612–641.
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0289.1966.tb00993.x
Collins P., McNicol D. (2008), St. Thomas á Becket House, Ettington, Warwickshire. Archaeological Evaluation and Watching Brief. Final Report (unpublished archaeological report Birmingham Archaeology, Birmingham).
Google Scholar
Cox M., Stock, G. (1996), Nineteenth Century Bath-stone Walled Graves at St Nicholas’ Church, Bathampton, “Somerset Archaeology and Natural History”, 138, p. 131–150.
Google Scholar
Curl J.S. (1980), A Celebration of Death. An Introduction to Some of the Buildings, Monuments, and Settings of Funerary Architecture in the Western European Tradition, B.T. Batsford, London.
Google Scholar
Dean B., Hiller J. (2007), St John’s College Chapel, St. Giles, Oxford (unpublished archaeological watching brief report, Oxford Archaeology, Oxford).
Google Scholar
Death across Oceans. Archaeology of Coffins and Vaults in Britain, America and Australia, Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, Washington DC.
Google Scholar
Gosden C., Marshall Y. (1999), The Cultural Biography of Objects, “World Archaeology”, 31 (2), p. 169–178, https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.1999.9980439
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.1999.9980439
Hobson G.D. (1935), The Church with the Crypts, “The Irish Monthly”, 63 (745), p. 452–456.
Google Scholar
Jalland P. (1996), Death in the Victorian Family, Oxford University Press, Oxford, https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198201885.001.0001
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198201885.001.0001
Janaway R. (1993), The Textiles, [in:] J. Reeve, A. Adams, The Spitalfields Project, vol. I, The Archaeology. Across the Styx, Council for British Archaeology, York (Research Report, 85), p. 92–119.
Google Scholar
Janaway R. (1998), An Introductory Guide to Textiles from 18th and 19th Century Curials, [in:] M. Cox (ed.), Grave Concerns. Death and Burial in England 1700 to 1850, Council for British Archaeology, York (CBA Research Report, 113), p. 17–32.
Google Scholar
Langthorne J. (2006), An Archaeological Watching Brief at Boone’s Chapel, Lee High Road, London Borough of Lewisham (unpublished archaeological watching brief report, Pre-Construct Archaeology Ltd., London).
Google Scholar
Lewis J. (2009), The Parish Church of St Nicholas, Cuddington, Buckinghamshire. An Archaeological Watching Brief (unpublished report, Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd., Reading).
Google Scholar
Lipkin S., Ruhl E., Vajanto K., Tranberg A., Suomela J. (2020), Textiles – Decay and Preservation in the 17th–19th century Burials in Northern Finland, “Historical Archaeology”, 54 (forthcoming).
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41636-020-00270-4
Litten J. (1985), Post-Medieval Burial Vaults: Their Construction and Contents, “Bulletin of the CBA Churches Committee”, 23, p. 9–17.
Google Scholar
Litten J. (1991), The English Way of Death, Robert Hale, London.
Google Scholar
Litten J. (1999), Tombs Fit for Kings: Some Burial Vaults of the English Aristocracy and Landed Gentry of the Period 1650–1850, “Church Monuments”, 14, p. 104–128.
Google Scholar
Litten J. (2009), The Anthropoid Coffin in England, “English Heritage Historical Review”, 4 (1), p. 72–83, https://doi.org/10.1179/175201609799838474
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1179/175201609799838474
Moerman L., van der Laan S. (2020), Paupers, Burial Clubs and Funeral Insurance: Calculating Moral Panics, “The British Accounting Review” (forthcoming), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bar.2020.100911
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bar.2020.100911
Mytum H. (1988), A Newly Discovered Burial Vault in North Dalton Church, North Humberside, “Post-Medieval Archaeology”, 22 (1), p. 183–187, https://doi.org/10.1179/pma.1988.006
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1179/pma.1988.006
Mytum H. (2004), Mortuary Monuments and Burial Grounds of the Historic Period, Springer, New York, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9038-9
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9038-9
Mytum H. (2007), Monuments and Memory in the Estate Landscape: Castle Howard and Sledmere, [in:] J. Finch, K. Giles (ed.), Estate Landscapes. Design, Improvement and Power in the Post-Medieval Landscape, Boydell & Brewer, Woodbridge (Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology Monograph, 4), p. 149–174.
Google Scholar
Mytum H. (2012), In memoriam: Markers, Monuments and Headstones, [in:] M. Connolly (ed.), The Unquiet Grave. The Development of Kerry’s Burial Grounds through the Ages, Kerry County Council, Tralee, p. 2–26.
Google Scholar
Mytum H. (2015), Artifacts of Mortuary Practice: Industrialization, Choice, and the Individual, [in:] A. Brooks (ed.), The Importance of British Material Culture to Historical Archaeologies of the Nineteenth Century, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, p. 274–304, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1d98bqt.14
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1d98bqt.14
Mytum H. (2017), Mortuary Culture, [in:] C. Richardson, T. Hamling, D. Gaimster (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Material Culture in Early Modern Europe, Routledge, London, p. 154–167.
Google Scholar
Mytum H. (2018a), United in Death? A Comparative Introduction to Historic Mortuary Culture, [in:] H. Mytum, L.E. Burgess (ed.), Death across Oceans. Archaeology of Coffins and Vaults in Britain, America and Australia, Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, Washington DC, p. 1–19.
Google Scholar
Mytum H. (2018b), Explaining Stylistic Change in Mortuary Material Culture: The Dynamic of Power Relations between the Bereaved and the Undertaker, [in:] H. Mytum, L.E. Burgess (ed.), Death across Oceans. Archaeology of Coffins and Vaults in Britain, America and Australia, Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, Washington DC, p. 75–93.
Google Scholar
Redknap M. (1985), Little Ilford, St Mary the Virgin, 1984, “The London Archaeologist”, 5 (2), p. 31–37.
Google Scholar
Reeve J., Adams A. (1993), The Spitalfields Project, vol. I, The Archaeology. Across the Styx, Council for British Archaeology, York (Research Report, 85).
Google Scholar
Renshaw L., Powers N. (2016), The Archaeology of Post-medieval Death and Burial, “Post-Medieval Archaeology”, 50 (1), p. 159–177, https://doi.org/10.1080/00794236.2016.1169491
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00794236.2016.1169491
Stanley A.P. (1869), Historical Memorials of Westminster Abbey, 2nd ed. (1st ed. 1868).
Google Scholar
Stock G. (1993), The 18th and 19th Century Quaker Burial Ground at Bathford, Bath and North-East Somerset, [in:] M. Cox (ed.), Grave Concerns. Death and Burial in England 1700 to 1850, Council for British Archaeology, York (CBA Research Report, 113), p. 144–153.
Google Scholar
Stone P.R. (2006), A Dark Tourism Spectrum: towards a Typology of Death and Macabre Related Tourist Sites, Attractions and Exhibitions, “Turizam: međunarodni znanstveno-stručni časopis”, 54 (2), p. 145–160.
Google Scholar
Tatton-Brown T. (1980), The Roper Chantry in St. Dunstan’s Church, Canterbury, “Antiquaries Journal”, 60 (2), p. 227–246, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003581500036416
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003581500036416
Väre T., Lipkin T., Suomela J., Vajanto K. (2020), Nikolaus Rungius: Lifestyle and Status of an Early Seventeenth-Century Northern Finnish Vicar, “Historical Archaeology”, 54 (forthcoming), https://doi.org/10.1007/s41636-020-00268-y
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41636-020-00268-y
Williams P. (2007), An Archaeological Recording at All Saints’ Church, Bisley, Gloucestershire (unpublished archaeological watching brief report, Mercian Archaeology).
Google Scholar
Wroe-Brown R. (2011), Postman’s Park (Path repair) Aldersgate Street London EC1 (unpublished archaeological watching brief report, Museum of London Archaeology, London).
Google Scholar
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
