The trouble with archaeological digs is that for most of us
they look just like a jumble of unconnected holes in the ground with a few bits
of stone poking up out of the earth.
Which pretty much seems to be the case from this picture
taken in 1981 of the old parish church during the dig conducted by Angus
Bateman
He began “some
exploratory and very amateurish digs, at weekends, intermittently between
October 1970 and August 1972” * and
concluded he needed to gain more experience in running a dig and to this end
enrolled in a course in archaeology at Manchester University. The subsequent 1977 dig formed the project
for that certificate and led on to further digs culminating in the 1980-81
season which was carried out with South Trafford Archaeological Group.**
The excavations and the subsequent research undertaken by Angus have helped with an understanding of the two churches which stood on the site from about 1512 till 1949 and a possible dating sequence for the extension of the graveyard in the early nineteenth century. The fragments from the later church were carefully analysed and recorded and in some cases Angus was able to track the manufacturers, some of whom were still trading in the 1970s. He also undertook a very detailed record of all the gravestones, including an analysis of the style and composition of the inscriptions and some work on the light they threw on life expectancy amongst the young in the township.
Pictures; from the Lloyd collection and the collection of Andrew Simpson
* Bateman, Angus J., Excavations and Other
Investigations at Old St Clements Church Yard Chorlton Manchester 1977, Report
of work done in part fulfilment of the Certificate Course in Methods of Archaeology,
Extra-mural Department, University of Manchester, held by South Trafford
Archaeological Group, Page 1
** South Trafford Archaeological Group, http://homepage.ntlworld.com/bryan.burtonbj/
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