Monument record BRD 018 - Chequer Meadow; Staunch Meadow (Un)

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Summary

Various undated features including a large number of skeletons have been found within the Scheduled area of the Middle Saxon Occupation site Chequer Meadow / Staunch Meadow.

Location

Grid reference Centred TL 7794 8658 (413m by 262m) Centred on
Map sheet TL78NE
Civil Parish BRANDON, FOREST HEATH, SUFFOLK

Map

Type and Period (3)

Full Description

Various undated features including a large number of skeletons have been found within the Scheduled area of the Middle Saxon Occupation site Chequer Meadow / Staunch Meadow. (S6).

1847 The Ipswich Journal reported `Large numbers of skeletons, both male and female, found in large-low mound in Staunch Meadow, Brandon, as early as 1847' (S1)(R3).

1847 The Suffolk Herald reported the discovery of "several hundreds of skeletons, …...To all appearances the bones are those of young men of athletic frames, and, most probably, from the imperfect and shattered condition of some of the skull bones." and interprited these remains as "slain during the contest of the Parliament and the Roundheads, or may be of an earlier fray,…... The bones were reinterred in pits dug for the purpose by order of Mr Balwin"(S10).

1895-1896: At least 120 skeleton excavated from this (? Same) cemetery by C S Myers, `found with the skeletons of horses but no associated objects other than iron fragments' (S1)(S2)(S3)(S4). It has been suggested that the skeletal material relates to the Early Anglo Saxon cemetery two excavated by the SAU (S11).

1980-1988: Excavations by SAU locates various undatable features - details in excavation archive (R4).

1997: Monitoring by Gill, D. located two small undated ditches on the west side of the meadow (S7).
Details in (S8).

2007: Animal bones sampled as part of radiocarbon dating bone samples recovered from gravel sites (S9).
Undated features within the Scheduled area of the Middle Saxon Occupation site Chequer Meadow / Staunch Meadow (S6).

Sources/Archives (18)

  • <R1> Article in serial: Myers, C. S.. 1896. An account of some skulls discovered at Brandon, Suffolk. Myers C S, Jour Royal Anthrop Inst, 26, 1896, 113-128, figs.
  • <M1> (No record type): Excavation archive:.
  • <S1> Index: OS. OS Card. OS, card TL78NE1 & 29.
  • <M2> Photograph: CUCAP. CUCAP aerial photograph. AP: CUCAP OA 01.
  • <R2> (No record type): Duckworth W L H in Marr & Shipley, Natural Hist of Cambs, 1904, 250,252.
  • <S2> (No record type): Fox C, Arch of the Cambridge Region, 1923, 77 & 114.
  • <S3> (No record type): Clarke R R, `The IA in Norf & Suff' Arch Jour, 95, 1939, 44 & 95.
  • <M3> (No record type): SAM file:.
  • <R3> (No record type): Ipswich Jour, January 1847.
  • <S4> Index: Ipswich Museum. IPSMG card. IPSMG, card Brandon, undated.
  • <R4> Excavation archive: Suffolk County Council Archaeologcial Service. 1989. Staunch Meadow, Brandon. Excavation archive.
  • <S5> Photograph: CUCAP. CUCAP aerial photograph. CUCAP, AP OA 01, 1954.
  • <S6> Unpublished document: Department of the Environment. Scheduling information.
  • <S7> Unpublished document: Suffolk County Council Archaeologcial Service. Various. Monitoring Report, SAU.
  • <S8> Article in serial: Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History. Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History. PSIAH 35 (1) p 78 1981.
  • <S9> Unpublished document: English Heritage. Radiocarbon Dating Bone Samples Recovered From Gravel Sites.
  • <S10> News Paper: 1847. DISCOVERY OF ANCIENT REMAINS. Suffolk Herald 1847.
  • <S11> Monograph: Tester, A., Anderson, S., Riddler, I. and Carr, R.. 2014. Staunch Meadow, Brandon, Suffolk. A High Status Middle Saxon Settlement on the Fen Edge.

Finds (3)

Protected Status/Designation

Related Monuments/Buildings (0)

Related Events/Activities (5)

Record last edited

Apr 3 2023 10:30AM

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