<< Other Photo Pages >> Shrewsbury Orthodox Church - Cursus in England in Shropshire
Submitted by rbatham on Thursday, 01 June 2017 Page Views: 3815
DigsSite Name: Shrewsbury Orthodox ChurchCountry: England County: Shropshire Type: Cursus
Nearest Town: Shrewsbury Nearest Village: Sutton
Map Ref: SJ5026310469
Latitude: 52.689611N Longitude: 2.737277W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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An archaeological dig around a Shropshire church has re-discovered what has been interpreted as slots for standing stones and two rows of Neolithic post holes and a ditch, known as a cursus, which extends to a large area to the west of the church, which is built directly on top of both a previous Anglo-Saxon church and prehistoric structures, so looks like a new example of a church built on a pre-Christian sacred site.
Carbon dating of a wooden post, which extracted from the dig in February, has shown it was first placed in the ground in 2033 BC. Archaeologists expected the post to turn out to be Anglo-Saxon, so were shocked to discover it dated from the late Neolithic/early Bronze Age period instead.
The dig has given a fuller picture to the ancient history of the site at Sutton in Shrewsbury. Its findings correspond directly with earlier archaeological excavations, carried out on nearby development land to the east of the tiny Medieval church in the 1960s and ‘70s, which unearthed evidence of Bronze Age and Neolithic structures. It wasn’t then known that these were connected with the church site. Back then archaeologists discovered burial mounds and cremations, slots for standing stones and two rows of Neolithic post holes and a ditch, known as a cursus, which they interpreted as processional walkway. It was aligned east to west, extending towards the current late 12th/early 13th century church.
The recent archaeological dig now shows that the prehistoric site extends to a larger area to the west of the church and that the building is built directly on top of both a previous Anglo-Saxon church and prehistoric structures. The current 10–metre long church itself was discovered to have originally been three times longer and to have once had transepts.
Read the full article at shropshirelive.com
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