St John the Baptist, Kingscote, Gloucestershire. Archaeological Watching Brief (OASIS ID: urbanarc1-264062)

In September and November 2016 Urban Archaeology carried out a watching brief at St John the Baptist Church, Kingscote on a new service trench which was dug through the graveyard and into the west doorway of the tower. The excavation of the service trench has demonstrated that burials occur across the graveyard below 0.5m below present ground level. Repeated digging of graves has resulted in the creation of a mixed 'cemetery soil' across the graveyard within which are many individual burials, however individual graves are not easily distinguishable, especially within a narrow service trench. Four articulated burials were identified and were left in situ in the base of the trench. Disarticulated human remains were recovered from the spoil heaps and the base of the trench; all human remains were reburied on site. The foundation of the tower was exposed to a depth of approximately 1m externally and is composed of large limestone blocks. Internally the tower steps appear to date to the 19th century, probably from SS Teulon's rebuilding of the church. Several medieval architectural fragments were recovered from a narrow trench cut through the steps and appear to be part of a perforated quatrefoil baffle from the tower.