Cheltenham Minster Gardens, Gloucestershire

Oxford Archaeology was commissioned by Cheltenham Borough Council to
undertake archaeological monitoring during improvement works to
Cheltenham Minster Gardens. The work took place on an intermittent basis
between April and November 2022.
The construction work revealed at least 16 shaft graves distributed across the
site, as well as a small number of headstones and ledger stones. The remains
survived in varying states of preservation, but the majority of the shaft graves
had been truncated and then backfilled. This evidence suggests that much of
cemetery was reduced in height at some stage during the 19th or early 20th
century, although no record of any such works has been identified.
A total of five shaft graves were exposed largely intact during the works. These
required backfilling to ensure the ground was suitably consolidated for the
development to continue. The human remains revealed within these graves
represented the only in situ burials to be observed during the monitoring.
Disarticulated remains were uncovered throughout the groundworks and
reburied as the work progressed.
Despite the presence of several headstones and ledger stones, the inscriptions
were poorly preserved. Only a single burial could be dated precisely, with a
breastplate indicating interment in 1811. The other remains were undated,
but appeared to be broadly contemporary in date, from the 18th and 19th
centuries.
No medieval remains or structural remains from earlier phases of the church
were recorded during the monitoring.