Grave Yard

In a flat expanse of damp, rush-grown pasture in the base of the Trimoge River valley, with the river 60m to W of the graveyard. On the W side of the river the valley is defined by a steep-sided ridge; the E side of the valley where the graveyard is located is bordered by a gentler slope. A few hundred meters to N a high ridge forces a bend in the course of the river to W. The location lies along a natural E−W route-way across the valley with a fording point on the river (now marked by a modern road and bridge). This graveyard is depicted on the 1838 OS 6-inch map as an irregular-shaped oblong area (c. 75m N−S; c. 50m E−W) outlined by a dashed line, with a church (MA071-142001-) in the centre of the E half. By the time of the 1931 edition, the graveyard had been enclosed by a wall, encompassing a smaller, almost square area (45.25m E−W; 47.9m N−S), with an E−W road outside the graveyard at N. It is enclosed by a mortared stone wall (Wth 0.6m; H 1.1m) with a gated entrance towards the E end of the N side, and a stile roughly in the centre of the same side. The interior ground surface is very uneven, with several hollow and dips, and a high density of gravestones. Formal headstones and graveslabs dating to the 19th- and 20th-centuries are interspersed among many low, uninscribed stone gravemarkers. The ruined medieval church (MA071-142001-) is located in the centre of the N half of the graveyard. Several stones from the church have been reused as gravemarkers, including a decorated Romanesque capital (MA071-142004-). There is a slope down to the SW in the SW quadrant, marked by a SW-facing stony scarp (H 0.5-1m), extending from W to S. Immediately outside the graveyard wall at W−SW is an area of very rough, hummocky stony ground –this may correspond with the larger oblong extent of the graveyard shown on the 1838 OS 6-inch map. When inspected in 1988 and in 1997, much of the graveyard was obscured beneath overgrowth. A Man-made underground passage (MA071-142003-) is located in an adjoining field c. 50m to SW. Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 13 September 2021

A local ancient tomb; wider significance not recorded.