Burial Crypts and Vaults in Britain and Ireland: a Biographical Approach

Abstract

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.