What price compromise? Archaeological investigations at St. Bartholomew’s church, Penn, Wolverhampton

Archaeological investigation undertaken prior to the building of an extension at St Bartholomew’s Church in the summer of 1999 has revealed interesting insights into the life of the people of Penn in the 18th and 19th centuries. A total of 372 burials had to be moved and were recorded before being re-interred in the northern portion of the graveyard. From legible plates and stones it was possible to identify 49 named individuals, many of whom had been buried in underground vaults and shafts. Overall it can be said from the evidence recorded during the examination of the skeletons that during the 18th and 19th century the people of Penn were in good health and generally lived well into old age. A variety of different burial types were revealed. The majority of individuals were buried in shrouds and laid in earth-cut graves, or within wooden coffins, often with brass or iron fittings. It is likely that the majority of the individuals buried in earth-cut graves are earlier: most were deeper and were cut by later burials, some of which could be dated to the 18th and 19th centuries. A number of the coffin fittings are as yet unparalleled elsewhere. Some individuals were buried within elaborate triple-shell lead and wooden coffins, often within brick-shaft graves or larger brick-built family vaults. In addition to discussing the results, this article attempts to evaluate the success of the project. The methodology was loosely based on a small group of broadly similar projects combined with the author’s own past experience."