A story of bones and stones!
The story (or should it be 'saga') of the boundary wall between our churchyard and Woodbridge School Prep began a very long time ago...
Contrary to popular belief, the churchyard (and hence the boundary wall) belong, not to St Mary's Church, but to East Suffolk Council. The churchyard has been 'closed' for burials since 11th August 1854, and it is the responsibility of the Council to maintain it. However, the Church of England has a complicated 'faculty' system which requires churches to notify the faculty Office of any planned works to be carried out, despite such work being carried out by the Council rather than the church itself.
What is a 'faculty'? "The ‘Faculty Jurisdiction’ is a system for the Church of England which provides planning controls for churches and churchyards. A Faculty must be obtained before most works to a church or churchyard are carried out." (The Faculty Office)
So, part of this boundary wall started to crumble, and Heras fencing was erected as a safety measure on both sides, and then we waited... By June 2025 we were advised "...that the work, due to start this summer, has again been delayed. The initial piling work is to commence in January 2026."
In August 2025 a Public Notice was posted on our internal and external noticeboards regarding a Faculty Application for new entrance pier gates and rebuilding of the boundary wall, and the faculty was issued in October 2025, just in time for 'investigative work' to commence. This turned out to be an 'Arboricultural Investigation' into the presence of tree roots from a mature London plane tree.
Did you know...? "[This type of] excavation is carried out with the use of an ‘air spade’ which consists of a lance used to direct compressed air at the ground to break up and move spoil. The use of compressed air minimises damage to significant roots located within the area of investigation." (Eastwood Tree Services report)
Inevitably, this caused a further delay, as planning permission was required in order to remove said root...
In December 2025 we heard that the project was going out to tender in January 2026, and so it went on...By June 2026 it was anticipated that Phase 1 (piling) would commence in early August, and finally we saw materials and plant arrive, and the drive around the church was blocked off on the south side.
In August things started to get interesting. David, our Churchwarden, spotted a headstone from 1710 within the boundary wall.
At the beginning of September we started to see archaeologists on site (from Cotswold Archaeology) as a number of bones were excavated from the wall area, initially thought to be from three whole skeletons, likely to be from 18th century, but eventually proved to be five skeletons, of adults and children. The archaeologists studied them on site, and some of us were fortunate enough to get to see them at work, and learn some of the interesting facts they were able to discern. It was a fascinating development, especially after the incredibly long wait for anything at all to happen, on a provisionally dull job of rebuilding a wall!
Next, a number of stone fragments were excavated from inside the wall (see the picture below) and
it is thought that the (possibly) 13th century ‘finds’ could have been part of the original Augustinian Priory.
The bones found during the archaeological investigation were reverently laid to rest on 29th September, and we are very grateful to two of the builders on site who helped us. Fr Nigel ended with this beautiful prayer:
"We have returned these human remains to the earth with respect and care. We pray that they find the peace and stillness that was interrupted, and their journey onward be gentle. We acknowledge their place in our shared human story, and we leave them now to rest undisturbed in the quiet earth. Amen.”
And the next day East Suffolk Council published an article about the stones...The 'bones and stones' story will continue...
You are welcome to join us in the church for a talk by the archaeologist, Frankie Wildmun (from Cotswold Archaeology) on Wednesday 18th November at 7.30pm in St Mary’s, Woodbridge.
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