St. Peter and St. Paul’s Church, Gosberton
Walter Jenkinson Kaye, in his book, ‘A Brief History of the Church and Parish of Gosberton’ (1897), makes the following reference to two stone coffins:
“Turning to the ancient monuments in the church, we should first mention a fragment of a coped coffin lid bearing a simple cross in relief upon it, which was found by the writer, placed face-downwards in the pavement. It probably dates from little later than the Norman Conquest and possibly formed the lid of the stone coffin found in digging quite near this in the nave. There is another stone coffin outside the N. transept; but it is rumoured that this belongs elsewhere.”
The stone coffin we see today at the west end of the church is presumably one of these.
How old is the coffin?
Kaye makes reference to one of the two stone coffins he refers to, as being ‘from little later than the Norman Conquest. Certainly, stone coffins in general date from the medieval period.
Temporary Use
Trevor Yorke, in his marvellous little book, ‘Gravestones, Tombs and Memorials,’ (2010) explains that stone coffins were used for important burials, usually under the church floor. They were not, he states, for permanent interment, “but were only used while the body decayed, the hole at the bottom allowing fluids to drain out and speed up the process. After this the bones were removed to a charnel house (either a chamber below the church, a room to the side of it or a separate building in the churchyard) after which the coffin could be used again.”
