Work on a town’s church has revealed that the site may have been used for worship for thousands of years.
Major refurbishment work on the Grade I-listed St Michael and All Angels http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=273 in Houghton-le-Spring, Tyne and Wear, began last month and has involved digging up the floor to install a new heating system.
The church, http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=3452 times, is the oldest building in the town.
A carved stone above a tiny doorway, featuring a carving of intertwined animals known as the Houghton Beasts, may be from http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=3151 the Norman Conquest.
But investigation by archaeologists as the refurbishment has continued has revealed whinstone boulders under the church, which are thought to have been part of an early prehistoric http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=3415 cairn or ritual site. A line of similar boulders has been found under the churchyard wall.
Archaeologist Peter Ryder, of Riding Mill in Northumberland, said: “It looks like a http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=3334 site. We can’t think of any other reason why these very large boulders should be inside the church.”
Under the central tower of the church, which was restored in about 1350, the work has uncovered huge Roman stones thought to have come from a Roman temple.
“These are massive and spectacular foundations for the tower, using huge stones which must have come from a major http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=3186 building,” said Peter.A Roman stone coffin lid has been in the churchyard for many years.
It is believed it was often the practice that important http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=3276 sites were taken over by subsequent religions.
“We have found far more than we ever expected when the work began,” said Peter, who is working alongside Newcastle University’s Archaeological Practice.
Also uncovered has been a maze of mainly 18th Century burial vaults, some brick and some stone, under the church. A number had their tops and bodies removed when Newcastle architect John Dobson carried out remodelling in 1858 – during which, the current work has shown, he re-used medieval timbers from the roof.
Pits of bones from this work have been found and the remains will be reburied.
Several intact vaults have been found in the current work and Peter said: “We have found evidence for at least several dozen vaults.”