The excavation of the site of the old parish church of St Mary at Stoke Mandeville in Buckinghamshire continues to yield intriguing and striking evidence as to the early occupation of the plot.
I have posted about previous discoveries there before in 2020 in Dealing with evil in the Buckinghamshire countryside and in Roman statues from Stoke Mandeville church last year.
The latest evidence appears to be from the end of the Roman period or at some point in the earlier phase of Anglo-Saxon occupation. It appears generally accepted that the Chilterns remained under British control after the rest of this southern lowland region fell under Anglo-Saxon domination, which might stretch the time limits for dating. The evidence revealed is of the disturbance of eight cremation urns and of their being shattered, possibly as another corpse, having apparently suffered a violent death, was being thrown or rolled in on top.
The report about these latest excavations is from the Daily Express and can be seen at Archaeologists baffled by ‘extraordinary’ skeleton that had been ‘rolled into a ditch’
Much as I deplore the HS2 project the excavations along its route are revealing very important additions to our knowledge of Roman and early English life, as I linked to in Roman trading town revealed in Northamptonshire
It is just a pity that the funds could not be made available for such archaeological research without the environmental disaster that is HS2
I can certainly see the story of the site Stoke Mandeville church becoming standard in books on Romano-British and Anglo-Saxon for future generations.
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