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The house and grounds of the former
vicarage of St.Mary's, lie just a few yards east of the church and church
yard of St.Mary's, which itself stands in the very centre of Ilkeston.
The house which occupies the property today was constructed in two phases. In
1842, the new vicar of Ilkeston, George Searle Ebsworth (1842-1863), arrived to take up his new post.
The house in which he was
expected to live had been built in 1681 and was now in a deplorable state.
It took Reverend Ebsworth, three years of negotiations with his
ecclesiastical superiors
before a new and more fitting house was constructed.
In 1890, the house was extended on its north and east side during the
residency of Edward Muirhead Evans (1887-1907). In 2000, after lying
unoccupied for several years, the
house was put up for sale. In the spring of 2001, the new owner
of the property invited a staff member of Erewash Museum to visit the
property in order to view some pieces of masonry which had been found in the
garden. |
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Against the wall which
separated the church yard from the property, lay a huge pile of garden
rubbish and debris, heavily overgrown with weeds
and creepers.
Lying against the base of this rubbish heap were several pieces of carved
masonry which, when cleaned of earth and mud, bore a striking resemblance to
parts of an illustration drawn in 1814, which purported to show the tomb of William
de Cantelupe (died 1308).
William had been the Lord of the Manor during the late 13th and early
14th centuries and his tomb originally stood in the chancel of St.Mary's. During the restoration of the church in the mid 1850s, William's
monument was broken up and removed from the church and subsequently left
scattered around the church yard. In time these fragments became lost until
found amongst the rubbish heap in the vicarage garden.
The recovery of several more sections of this masonry confirmed that parts
of the long lost tomb of William de Cantelupe had been found.
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The property is
surrounded by a substantial brick wall, but after clearing away the
overgrowth and rubbish from the site, a 7 metre long section of this wall
was found to be constructed only of sandstone. After the discovery of
sandstone foundations lying at right angles to both ends of this section, it
was considered possible that this was the surviving wall to a previously
unknown building. At the base of these foundations, and spread across the
surrounding area, were found considerable amounts of early to mid 16th
century pottery sherds.
Examination of 17th and 18th century documents, and the study of the earliest
known map of Ilkeston, produced by a Henry Fletcher and dated 1598, suggested that the structure to which
these foundations belonged, could have been a barn, stable, or part of a
whole range of buildings.
Comparison of the 1598 map with modern ordnance survey maps placed a
building exactly on the site of the above foundations. It was
therefore considered possible that here were the remains of a building which
had been in existence since at least the late 16th century. |
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Alongside the remains of what
the team referred to as "the Tudor barn", were uncovered
the foundations of other walls. However, the base to one of these walls was found to
lie at a lower level than those of the barn, and surrounded by large
quantities of rubble, broken medieval roof tile (13th/14th c Nottingham
produced), and late medieval and early Tudor
pottery. At the foot of one of these (presumably) earlier walls, ran a stone
lined gutter. This was found to pass under, and into, whatever the building once was. This
clearly suggested that the site now contained the remains of two previously
unknown buildings. The presence of so much medieval material also suggested
that the earlier building appeared to date from this same period. If so when had
it been built and what was its purpose?
In 1386 St.Mary's came under the jurisdiction of the Premonstratensian
canons of Dale Abbey. Of all the parishes which came under its control, in only
four were resident priests appointed. Amongst these four parishes, the
others being Heanor,
Kirk Hallam and Stanton by Dale, was Ilkeston and records
tell us that in the early 15th century there once stood a 'priest's house
and a church house' in Ilkeston. It was therefore considered that these
foundations may be the remains of one of these two buildings. |
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During the excavations large amounts
of late medieval and early Tudor pottery were found, along with over 90 fragments of
medieval painted glass (13th/14th c). These finds, along with the charred material and
debris, suggested that the demolition of a medieval building, and the
erection of the barn had taken place in or around the mid 16th century.
The presence of, and the origin of the medieval painted glass however presented a problem. It
was considered unlikely (though not impossible) that glass of this quality would have been installed
in a house in which the village priest lived. The glass could have
originated from Dale Abbey, where identical glass has been found. If it did
originate from the Abbey, Its presence on the site could the result of it
being transferred there following the dissolution of 1538. However, a third
option,
is that the glass may have come out of St.Mary's church
following the orders of King Edward VI in 1548, to remove from churches and
chapels, and to destroy, all objects bearing Papist
imagery. Again, a date which would fit in with the team's current theory |
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Following the excavations of
2001 and 2002, further work was carried out to discover the extent of the foundations. It
was discovered that the barn walls
(or at least what remained of them) appeared to extend some 19 metres (64 feet)
out into the lawn. A continuation of the medieval gutter was uncovered in
2003, showing that its course ran parallel to the outside of the medieval
house but turned away at its south-east corner, presumably away to a midden. This would appear to fit in with the
assumption that the priest house measured some 9 metres (30 feet) in length.
A later resistivity survey suggested that these foundations (or at least
what remains of them) may extend out into the lawn to a similar distance.
In 2003, a second hitherto unknown water course, drain, or conduit, was
discovered beneath the site, running parallel to what would have been the
barn walls, but at a shallower depth than that of the medieval gutter.
Again, the resistivity survey suggested that this feature may extend some
distance towards the church wall. As to whether this feature is contemporary
with the barn, or may date from a different period, is yet to be
ascertained.
RADIO CARBON DATING
In 2003, some material was sent off to Oxford University to undergo
radio carbon testing. The sample consisted of a sycamore leaf, found beneath
a layer of demolition material and preserved beneath a layer of clay. the
leaf bore scorch marks, which appeared consistent with a surrounding layer
of ash and charred material. This suggested that the leaf had fallen into
the site during the time that one of the said buildings was being
demolished.
However, the results suggested that the leaf dated from between 1960 and
present day. This was confusing. The leaf was lying in an area believed to
have been undisturbed for at least 160 years. The leaf was found in the
early summer of 2002, not in the Autumn when it could be expected to see
leaves falling across the site. As mentioned above, the leaf bore scorch
marks and lay beneath the demolition material which lay across most of the
site.
We believe that the sample may have been contaminated by the presence of
roots from a dead yew tree, now known to have been cut down in or around
1960. Despite this disappointment, a new sample was sent off in December
2004.
During the excavations, a number of animal bones were found. Of these,
part of a cow's jaw bone had been uncovered lying alongside the base of one
of the 'barn' walls. It was found at a depth of around 80 cm, and lying on a
bed of clay, which appears to have been lain down as a foundation to the
said wall. At least a good result could indicate as to when the clay was lain
down and when the barn wall was constructed.
With a 95.4% probability, the results indicate that the bone sample dates
from between 1282 and 1391, but is more likely to date to the later half
of that period.
With our current theory that the medieval building was demolished, and the
barn erected during the mid 16th century, the results show that the sample
is 150-200 years older than expected. However, the date of the sample does
appear to match the period in which we believe the medieval building was
erected, i.e. circa 1386.
Due to the extremely well preserved condition of the sample when found, it
is considered possible that this bone had been buried for many years beneath the floor
of the medieval building, before being dug out during its demolition, and
included in the fill material found in this area of the site.
NEW EXCAVATIONS DURING 2005 - uncovered evidence that the material
brought to the site after the construction of the new vicarage in 1847 may
have originated from the area around the present Market Place. This area was
cleared of farm buildings and cottages during the 1840s and vast amounts of
material was removed to level the site. The area referred to had been
occupied for centuries and may explain the large and varied number of finds
made when the excavations in the grounds of the former vicarage cut through
a layer of material which had clearly been laid to level out the vicarage
gardens.
The finds mainly consisted of a jumble of medieval to early 19th c pottery
sherds, evidence that the material had been removed from an area which had
been occupied for some considerable time.
The stratification of the material also appeared to show that many
individual cart loads had been delivered, probably over a relatively short
period of time.
Another intriguing aspect was the discovery of a large concentrated deposit
of glass and pottery, lying on what was the ground level outside the barn
walls, before the landscaping took place.
All this material dated from between the late 18th c and the early 1840s and
consisted of over 24 wine bottles, several serving dishes, a large porcelain
jug, several cups and saucers, bowls and other items of tableware. This may
well have been some of the household goods from the old 17th century
vicarage, which the new Vicar, G.S.Ebsworth considered too old or out of
fashion for him to want seen in his new and somewhat grander house.
THE FOUNDATIONS OF A MEDIEVAL BOUNDARY WALL - were uncovered which
corresponded exactly to where Henry Fletcher showed it to be on his map of
1598. This would have been the original boundary wall between what was once
the vicarage and the demense land of the lord of the manor, land which would
eventually become part of the church yard in the late eighteenth century.
RESISTIVITY RESULTS - In March of 2005, Mr Keith Foster of the
Derbyshire Archaeological Society kindly offered to carry out a resistivity
survey of the site. The results of the survey revealed that the site may
contain further traces of the discoveries already made, as well as possible
features in areas as yet unexcavated.
To see the results go to Geophysics
Results.
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