Yesterday (18th April), an extraordinary funeral was held at the Colchester Borough cemetery in Mersea Road, as a result of an amazing collaboration between the Hunnaball Family Funeral Group, the cemetery manager Penny Stynes, and Father Richard Tillbrook, on behalf of the Trust.
Yesterday Hunnaball, the Colchester-based funeral directors, with the help of Colchester Borough Council, came to the Trust’s rescue and re-buried the remains of over 120 individuals from our store room in the town cemetery on Mersea Road. Once catalogued, it is important that archaeologically excavated human remains such as these are either re-buried or transferred to Colchester Castle Museum for long-term storage. Sometimes this can be a problematic process, as it was with the various groups of remains making up this particular collection. This is why we at the Trust are delighted and relieved that Hunnaball, Father Richard and Colchester Borough Council not only made this possible but also ensured that the whole process was carried out in a respectful and dignified manner. Funerals are, of course, expensive events, but Hunnaball very generously made no charge for their services, as did Colchester Borough Council for the burial plots in Colchester cemetery.
Over a number of years, the Trust had excavated these groups of remains from five different previously-consecrated sites in the town where building and other works were going to involve much ground-disturbance. With only two possible exceptions (both probably Roman), all the people concerned had been buried in Christian cemeteries and were medieval in date. Most of the remains came from the cemetery of the Crossed (or Crouched) Friars in Crouch Street and were unearthed prior to a major rebuilding project there. A large group was excavated a few years ago in the former graveyard at Colchester Zoo so that a new enclosure could be built there for the orangutans. The grounds of the zoo include the now redundant church of All Saints’ church and its graveyard has gradually been covered over by later alterations. Minor works at the side of the Town Hall in the High Street produced the remains of a few individuals from the former cemetery of the demolished St Runwald’s church, and yet more came from St Botolph’s priory when, some time ago, the site of the east end of the priory church was opened up as part of improvements to the monument as a heritage visitor site. The whole collection was rounded off with the remains from a few burials in the now built-over graveyard of St Mary Magdalen’s hospital in Brook Street.
The re-burial ceremony in Colchester cemetery was carried out just as it would be for a modern funeral. It was an impressive event. Father Richard Tillbrook of St Barnabas’ Church in Abbot’s Road kindly gave the service, which was partly in Latin. He was helped by sacristan (church sexton) Mr Trevor Hubbard, who on this occasion was Thurifer and managed the burning of the incense and the holy water. Five coffins were involved, with two in one grave and three in another. Each coffin had all the usual fittings and included an inscribed brass plate recording where the remains inside had originally been buried. Trust director Philip Crummy attended the funeral.
This is not the first time that Colchester cemetery has provided a permanent home for displaced ancient human remains. In fact, under the care of the cemetery manager, the marvellous Penny Stynes, there is now a corner of the cemetery entirely devoted to this. Here lie not only these latest remains, but the main consignment of remains from the modern part of the graveyard of St Mary Magdalen’s church (excavated prior to redevelopment), a later batch of remains from the same place (medieval and Victorian remains excavated by the Trust in the 1990s and generously re-buried some years later by Hunnaball), and the remains of about 500 individuals removed by contractors in the 1970s from the cemetery of the now redundant St Giles’ church for the construction of Southway.
With many thanks to Saul Hunnaball and the Hunnaball Family Funeral Group, Penny Stynes and Colchester Borough Council, and Father Richard Tillbrook and Mr Trevor Hubbard.
The images show scenes from the funeral yesterday: cemetery manager Penny Stynes with assistant Susi Long; members of Hunnaball with Father Richard; the funeral procession; and Father Richard and Thurifer Mr Trevor Hubbard conducting the blessing.
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