Post-Medieval Britain in 1979

Abstract

1. ECCLESIASTICAL BUILDINGS HERTFORDSHIRE: HITCHIN, (TL/181112895). Following a detailed survey in 1978 of those grave memorials -to be destroyed in Tileho,Use St. Baptist Churchyard a watching brief was maintained by G. R. Burleigh for North Hertfordshire District Council Museums Service. Dated graves covered the period from 1702 to 1939, the majority being pre-1850, and several types of burial were noted, ranging from simple wooden coffins in unmarked earth graves to elaborate wood and lead coffins in family vaults. A large number of burials were in well-constructed brick vaults. Approximately 150 grave memorials were recorded in the development area, of which approximately eighty-five were still in situ. There were numerous unmarked graves. The original chapel, the site of which is in the redevelopment area, was constructed in 1692, and demolished in 1843, when a larger church was built on another part of the churchyard. A number of 18th-century head and footstones, together with several coffin name-plates, and a complete lead coffin of 1790, have been acquired by Letchworth Museum.