St John's Churchyard, John Street, Bristol - Archaeological Watching Brief

Wessex Archaeology

Wessex Archaeology was commissioned to undertake an archaeological watching brief during intrusive groundworks associated with public realm improvements at St John’s Churchyard, Bristol. The watching brief, undertaken as a condition of faculty approval for the
improvement works, covered a 0.06-hectare area, centred on NGR 358847 173178.

The archaeological works comprised monitoring the excavation of 19 gate or fence post pits, a
reduce dig for a new pathway across the churchyard, and a trench for the construction of new steps from John Street.

St John’s Churchyard is a detached burial ground for the nearby church of St John the Baptist. The churchyard opened in 1390 and remained in use until 1854. Excavations within the churchyard
uncovered eight burial structures, comprising a brick-lined grave, a fallen gravestone, two ledgers,
the foundations for a removed ledger or chest tomb, and three sets of capstones that probably overlie
brick-lined graves. All the exposed monuments are likely to date from the 18th or early 19th century.
A moderate quantity of disarticulated human bone and a small assemblage of finds were recovered
from the churchyard. The human bone reburied in the churchyard once the intrusive groundworks
had been completed. The finds comprised a typical range of domestic and personal objects, which
represent casual loss or dumping of refuse during the post-medieval and modern periods.
The excavation in John Street uncovered a simple sequence of undated made ground, overlain by
a modern pavement.