Monument record BRH 054 - Cemetery associated with the local pesthouse

Evaluation identified at least 76 graves were identified. Five of these burials were excavated to reveal either human remains and/or coffin stains and these examples indicated that the burials were located at least 1m below the present ground surface and that bone preservation was extremely good. Part of a red brick wall footing was identified and is thougt to be part of the workhouse chapel and appeared to define the northern extent of the cemetery (S1).

An area of 2.9 hectares was evaluated because early Ordnance Survey maps indicate that this was the site of the burial ground of the Bosmere and Claydon Union Workhouse (built in 1766).
Trenching revealed that the majority of the site had been severely disturbed and truncated during the 20th century and this was probably due to this area being used as a compound for works being undertaken on the adjacent A45 trunk road. The area of the 18th and 19th century cemetery had been left mainly undisturbed however and the locations of the burials were probably either marked or known about and were avoided during the modern earthmoving works. Part of a red-brick wall footing, believed to belong to the workhouse chapel, appeared to define the northern edge of the cemetery. Within the six trenches excavated to the S of the chapel the outlines of at least 76 graves were identified. Five of these burials were excavated to reveal either human remains and/or coffin stains and these examples indicated that the burials were located at least 1m below the present ground surface and that bone preservation was extremely good. No archaeological remains of earlier periods were identified. Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2012 (S2).

In general the topographic location of the Proposed development area (PDA) and the known archaeology of the area would suggest that there is a moderate to high potential for encountering archaeological remains within the PDA. There is a known disused burial site within the PDA, which was in use by the Bosmere and Claydon Incorporated Hundred Workhouse since 1766. Due to the burial ground being in use prior to the Towns Improvement Clauses Act of 1847 that formalised a minimum depth at which bodies were to be buried (2' 6" from the top of the coffin to the ground surface) and due to the practice of stacking bodies within a single grave there is the possibility of encountering human remains at a shallow depth. If at any point human remains were encountered within the burial ground, work would have to stop and a licence would be required from the Ministry of Justice to disturb the remains.

Current evidence suggests that large parts of the PDA have been disturbed to an unknown degree and this may have had an adverse effect on the potential for the
survival of archaeological remains (S3).