Building record MLI80690 - Church and churchyard of St Michael-on-the-Mount

Summary

Church and churchyard of St Michael-on-the-Mount

Type and Period (5)

  • (Early Medieval/Dark Age to Post Medieval - 1000 AD? to 1644 AD?)
  • (Post Medieval to Modern - 1739 AD to 2050 AD)
  • (Early Medieval/Dark Age to Modern - 1000 AD? to 2050 AD)
  • (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1521 AD to 1644 AD?)
  • (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1850 AD)

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Full Description

PRN 70197 [Note: this record contains material from PRN 70199, now deleted.] The present church of St Michael-on-the-Mount was built in 1855-6 to a design by S S Teulon in the Geometrical style and replaced an earlier church that was too small for the population of the parish. For the full description and the legal address of this listed building please refer to the appropriate List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest.{1}{2} There has been a church on this site since at least the early medieval period. The medieval church is mentioned in Domesday book, and is assumed to be an early foundation although the date of foundation is uncertain. It was situated just outside the south gate of the upper city, possibly at the head of a market area. In 1350 it became the home of the guild of Corpus Christi, who may have had their own guild chapel within the church. A chantry was founded in the church by Robert Dyghton in 1521 (a very late date for the foundation of a chantry). The church survived the Reformation but was reduced to ruins in 1644 during the Civil War. By 1674 it was described as being "in so ruinous a condition as to be past repair, nothing being left standing but the bare walls". It was not repaired but instead was replaced by a new church, built to the north of the original (and the current building), in 1739-40, partly due to the efforts of the antiquary Thomas Sympson. This building, which was very small, was itself replaced by the current church in the 19th century. The churchyard originally extended further north than the current site, possibly all the way up to the upper city wall. Burials took place there until the 1850s. {3}{4}{5} During a watching brief on groundworks inside the redundant church, in 1999, a pit was identified, probably the site of a tree, cleared prior to building the church. Unstratified pottery from Roman to post medieval date was also found. To the north of the church the watching brief uncovered a post medieval wall of two to three courses of roughly squared limestone blocks was found and abutting to this wall a layer of moderately compacted, light yellow-brown, sandy lime mortar (interpreted as a floor surface). A further wall aligned east-west also of two courses of roughly squared limestone blocks was found. This wall cut a pit which was filled with a dump of mortar, roof tile and brick fragments dated generally from the seventeenth to the eighteenth centuries. It seems possible that these remains could be connected with the church of 1739. {6} Two trial trenches were excavated at the eastern edge of the graveyard, next to Edward King House. At least five disturbed graves were encountered, containing articulated and disarticulated human remains. The graves cut post medieval deposits and are therefore assumed to be of post medieval date. {7}{8}

Sources/Archives (8)

  •  Index: Department of Culture, Media and Sport. Dec 1999. Revised List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest. 1941-1/9/76; 269.117.
  •  Bibliographic Reference: Nikolaus Pevsner and John Harris, with Nicholas Antram. 1989. Buildings of England: Lincolnshire (Second Edition). p.499.
  •  Bibliographic Reference: Jones, Michael, J; Stocker, D.; and Vince, A.. 2003. The City by the Pool including LARA. RAZ 9.60.33, 10.60.33, 11.91.10.
  •  Article in Serial: Edmund Venables. 1888. 'A list and brief description of the churches of Lincoln previous to the period of the Reformation' in Associated Architectural and Archaeological Societies’ Reports and Papers. p 341, no. 38.
  •  Bibliographic Reference: Kenneth Cameron. 1984. The Place-Names of Lincolnshire, Part 1. 1. pp 129-30.
  •  Report: City of Lincoln Archaeology Unit. Mar 2000. Former Church of St Michael-on-the-Mount, Christ's Hospital Terrace. MOMA99.
  •  Report: Lindsey Archaeological Services. 2007. Edward King House, Lincoln: Archaeological Evaluation. LEDK06.
  •  Archive: Lindsey Archaeological Services. 2007. Edward King House, Lincoln: Archaeological Evaluation. LCNCC 2006.260.

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Location

Grid reference Centred SK 97696 71693 (73m by 53m)
Civil Parish MINSTER, LINCOLN, LINCOLNSHIRE

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Related Events/Activities (3)

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Record last edited

Mar 21 2021 8:35PM

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