Publisher's Synopsis
On the south side of the river Nene in east Northamptonshire, Anglo-Saxon settlement began in the 6th century at Raunds Furnells, but more than 300 years elapsed before the settlement was large enough to have a church of its own. This book tells the story of this historic site, based on excavations which have revealed unusual features not found elsewhere. The first simple structure was found to be too small, and a chancel was added. The boundaries of a graveyard were established around the church; the congregation had buried its dead in ordered zones, the earliest dominated by a plot, perhaps a "founder's grave", within which survived an elaborately carved stone grave cover. In the last years of the graveyard's use, burials of very young children took place in an "eaves-drip" zone flanking the church walls.;The excavation has revealed much new information about the population who for two centuries used the church, about their physical health, and about their very varied burial practices. Although a larger church was later built on the site, there were few later burials, and the graveyard remained little disturbed until the 20th century.
