Site Event/Activity record ESF26081 - Monitoring - Wheelchair Access Pathway at St Mary's Church, Ickworth Park

Monitoring of groundworks associated with the creation of a wheelchair access path at St Mary's Church. No archaeological features or graves were encountered during the works. It appwars that the western curtliage wall does mark the western boundary of the medieval cemetery, with lower deposits sloping markedly down to the west - although this may have been emphasised by later post-medieval landscaping of soils outside of the cemetery area. A shallow sequence of deposits was recorded in the area of the north porch which included a recently infilled hollow path, cemetery soils and possible natural sandy-clay geology. Gently sloping deposits on the western side of the curtliage wall included natural clay below a possible archaic subsoil, buried below late post-medieval make-up. Machined reduction to create the gently sloping wheelchair access path on the outside of the church yard necessitated excavation of the exisiting bank (S1).