SHARP - Boneyard

The earliest reference to the existence of the Boneyard site that we have so far found dates from 1913, although there is a possibility that an unidentified nineteenth century burial site is also the same site. In 1913 the then owner of Sedgeford Hall, Holcombe Ingleby, wrote of his archaeological exploits within the village that summer, describing his discovery of up to eight inhumations at a point he helpfully described as being 'near my house'. He also comments that 'many skeletons have from time to time been exhumed along the side of the stream that runs through Sedgeford Valley' although sadly Ingleby does not quote his sources for these earlier discoveries, nor does he identify his site's location. However, when his daughter donated some of the human remains discovered to the Royal College of Surgeons she produced a hand drawn map, upon which the location of the site was marked with an X. Sadly the map is not to any particular scale, but the approximate position given for the burials coincides closely with the area of the Boneyard that we have been excavating and we assume that they were a part of the same group of burials.

The first major assessment of the archaeological potential of the Boneyard site came in 1954 when ploughing revealed human remains on the site. As a result the Norfolk Research Committee was called upon to evaluate the site. Limited excavations identified the existence of a Middle or Late Anglo-Saxon inhumation cemetery. A newspaper report at the time said that the remains were 'equally spaced, [and] showed no signs of hasty burial' and, although it has not yet been possible to examine the material archive, there is no doubt that these inhumations should also be considered a part of the Boneyard skeletal assemblage.

The next major stage of archaeological investigation of the Boneyard site came in 1957 / 58 when the site was extensively excavated by Dr. Peter Jewell of Cambridge University.

In 1991 a pipe trench was dug along the track that extends around the eastern and southern extents of the Boneyard site. It had mixed findings, but was able to identify various stretches of archaeological deposits. Further discussion of these findings and out attempts to utilise them can be found on the Chalk Pit excavation page.

Finally, in 1996, SHARP began excavating what is now know as the Boneyard 'Old Trench' on the site. This was followed in 2000 by a linking trench into Jewell's excavations and finally by the Boneyard 'New Trench' in 2001. In Figure C above, New Trench is now on the area to the East of the main red area of 'Old Trench', this newer area incorporates the majority of the older 'Jewell' excavations.