#FindsFriday Coffin fittings from Wivenhoe

Today for #FindsFriday we’re going to talk about some interesting finds from our work at St Mary’s church in Wivenhoe in 2021.⛪

For a previous #ThrowbackThursday we discussed the site as a whole, including that 23 burials were found as well as many finds associated with burial. This includes coffin nails, upholstery studs, handles and grip plates. Burial in coffins became more common in the late 17th century onwards, with fabric, decorative metal studs and handles fixed with decorative grip plates. Only three complete/near complete iron grip plates were identified from the site with no further decorative metalwork evident. It was noted that these handles and grip plates were made of the cheapest metal available, which could explain the lack of the more expensive decorative metalwork. 👀

Another common find on the site were copper-alloy pins which would have been used as dress/shroud pins to secure burial clothing or coffin linings. A total of 37 of these were recovered from six graves. 😮

All of these finds suggest that the burials identified were from the 17th century onwards, however disarticulated bone (bone that is not in it’s original place) suggest that there were earlier graves on site which were disturbed by later grave digging.

For more information about the site, check out CAT Report 1687 at: http://cat.essex.ac.uk/all-reports.html