Explorations conducted in the University of Gloucestershire’s City Campus ‘ patio have revealed fresh information about the history of a feudal chapel that stood in its place and the persons buried there.
In 2021, the university made the purchase of a department store in Gloucestershire’s downtown with the intention of making it a shared college building.
Archaeologists discovered an 18th-century religion as part of the construction project in 2023, according to the school. In order to change a prehistoric religion, the church was constructed around 1750.
As scientists continue to unearth the site, they are now learning more about the church’s past.
An , April 11 , media release from the , University of Gloucestershire, said that the size and form of the feudal church were unidentified until scientists began working on the project.
According to the release from Cotswold Archaeology,  ,” The mediaeval cathedral was destroyed in the middle of 1650s, with video sources indicating that a large portion of its masonry was used to fix another parish churches in the area, such as those that sustained damage during the English Civil War.”
In the middle of the 18th century, a new parish church was constructed on the site of the feudal forerunner. The former endured until the early 1960s when it was destroyed to make room for the department store, he continued.
Archaeologists discovered 83 “brick-lined burial vaults” from within the temple and “in the related burial earth,” along with marble and brick foundations, according to the release.
These cellars were cleared, according to archaeologists, before the department store’s design.
However, according to the transfer, scientists discovered 170 graves from an earlier time and about 150 post-medieval graves in the courtyard, which were further discovered by the excavation.
According to the school, the majority of earlier graves are “provisionally thought to correspond to the medieval church.”
More than 300 remains were recorded and excavated, according to the school, and will be examined in order to “learn more about the life of those buried within the church garden.”
The account it will tell about Gloucester’s population’s health over the course of roughly 1, 000 years will be the most fascinating because this was an urban religion, according to Cliff Bateman, top job officer at Cotswold Archaeology. ” For instance, on a very simple level, oral health was clearly affected by increased sugar consumption in the 16th century. The whole conclusions of these reports will be released in due course.
Other than the mortal bones, the church’s interior was also found.
The new college building did house structural masterpieces from historic churches. University of Gloucestershire
The discovery of a marble wall with surviving salt plaster most likely corresponds to the earlier church, Sheldon said, “even though the footprints of the medieval church was not identified during the recent historical works.” If therefore, it is now clear that the two parishes ‘ floor plans were different because the medieval church was constructed much further north, away from the front of St. Aldate Street.
A number of worked rock objects, including a portion of a mid-14th-century glass dome with some interior tracery, were recovered, he said, in addition to the limestone wall.
The school said the architectural details found at the page will eventually get displayed on the school for students, staff, and customers.
Gloucestershire is located in western England, about a 100-mile travel west of London.
___
© 2025 the Merced Sun-Star
Tribune Content Agency, LLC distributed.
