Roman Catholic burial in 19th-century Liverpool: four vaults in the crypt of St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church, Toxteth, Liverpool

SUMMARY

The recording of vaults in the crypt of St Patrick’s Church, Toxteth, Liverpool, has enabled the first detailed examination of Roman Catholic vault burial in England, and the first vaults of any kind in north-west England. One vault contains the coffins of four priests and a Christian Brother, the other three were built for the members of successful commercial families in the Catholic community of Liverpool during the early decades of the 19th century. The evidence indicates differences with contemporary Anglican vault burial, though some of the variations with London and Birmingham assemblages may be more related to class distinctions and regional rather than denominational traditions.

Keywords:

• Mortuary archaeology
• post-medieval
• vault
• coffin
• Roman Catholic

The recording of vaults beneath churches in Britain has taken place in advance of clearance, as with Spitalfields, St Luke’s, Islington and at St George’s, Bloomsbury (Reeve and Adams 1993; Boyle, Boston, and Witkin 2005; Boston et al. 2009) or as non-interventionist observational studies (Litten 1999, 2009; Mytum 1988; Redknapp 1985). The project at St Patrick’s belong to the latter, but with the addition of pXRF on coffins and fittings. No coffin could be opened or moved (Mytum 2021). The church and burial ground have been investigated with the collaboration and support of the community (Mytum et al. 2022) but here the focus is on the architecture and development of the vaults and the nature of the interments within them to investigate vault burial for the first time in northwest England, and within the Roman Catholic tradition. All the previous vault studies in England have been at Anglican churches, so this was the first opportunity to explore whether there were any Roman Catholic preferences regarding this form of burial, even though this sample is small. The role of denomination in external burial choices has been noted elsewhere in earth burial regarding Quakers, Baptists, and Roman Catholics (Stock 1998; Bashford and Sibun 2007; Powers and Miles 2011; Cherryson, Crossland, and Tarlow 2012; Henderson, Miles, and Walker 2013; Renshaw and Powers 2016), though there is a great deal of similarity across denominations. This is no doubt in part because of the controlling influences of the undertaking industry in the later 18th and 19th centuries, and the relative power position between the professionals and the recently bereaved (Mytum 2018b).

Research to date has created an understanding of mortuary practices within vaults, both those for families and larger parochial vaults, revealing considerable diversity in size, form, and management of the space (Mytum 2020). The large crypt area of St Patrick’s was not used for parochial above-ground interment, but a row of small vaults above the crypt floor was constructed within the crypt space, and these are the subject of this study. They can be compared with other family vaults elsewhere to understand the choices being made by the constructors and users of the vaults, albeit over a limited period within the 19th century. They are described in detail because they represent the first published set of vaults in northwest England, and the only one studied within a Roman Catholic church setting. The St Patrick’s vault coffins can therefore be compared with evidence from earth-dug burial ground interments of Roman Catholics on the one hand and Anglican vault interments on the other.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

The Roman Catholic population of Liverpool grew during the early 19th century from over 21,000 in 1811 to 50–60,000 by 1830 (Burke 1910). Some were able to become successful merchants and businessmen as the city grew with the development of international trade, as first canals and then the railways enabled the products of the industrial revolution to be dispatched from the north of England and the Midlands to Liverpool’s docks. The typical mix of sophisticated Georgian town houses and slums (with a regional form comprising court housing) spread out from the small historic core of Liverpool, and suburbs such as Toxteth provided the housing needed for the rapidly growing population (Errazurez 1946; Pooley 1977; Stewart and Speakman 2020).

Burial for the large Catholic population of Liverpool was limited (Fig. 1), and so once the church and its limited graveyard opened in 1827 it was intensively used. Prior to this, all Catholic burials had to be interred without a service in Anglican churchyards, except for the few (155 recorded in total between 1815 and 1827) who could be interred with a service by a priest at St Nicholas’ burial ground on Copperas Hill. An even smaller number (22) used the crypt at St Peter’s on Seel Street (opened 1788), and these coffins were removed and reburied without detailed archaeological investigation in 2004. The new nonconformist Low Hill General Cemetery (known as Liverpool Necropolis) which opened in 1825, and Anglican St James’ Cemetery (1829) did allow the burial of some Catholics, but again with no service. The opening of St Patrick’s was therefore an important addition to the options for Catholics, particularly in the south of Liverpool, along with St Anthony’s on Scotland Road which opened in 1833 and served north Liverpool (Burke 1910, 47). Burial at St Patrick’s remained popular until the 1854 Order of Council which closed most urban churchyards of all denominations, and it was only with the opening of the Roman Catholic Ford Cemetery in 1859 that pressure eased on burial provision.

FIG. 1 Liverpool map indicating possible burial options for Roman Catholics that were within the city (image by A. Fairley Nielsson on 1860 weekly dispatch atlas base map courtesy of historic-liverpool.co.uk).

Whilst vaults within the church crypt may indicate a desire to demonstrate socio-economic success, there is increasing archaeological evidence of bodysnatching from 19th-century burial grounds, and a range of strategies to combat this can be defined (Mytum and Webb 2018), which could include burial within vaults. Concern regarding grave robbing was widespread in Liverpool, and not without reason as 33 bodies awaiting shipment to Scotland were found at Liverpool docks in 1826, with more stored in a cellar; further discoveries took place later that year (Liverpool Mercury, 13 October 1826, Liverpool Mercury, 10 November 1826). In 1826 William Gill, a surgeon, was successfully prosecuted for organising bodysnatching for his Seel Street dissection rooms (Liverpool Chronicle, 16 February 1828). Fears of bodies being taken from hospitals for dissection during the 1832 Cholera outbreak led to a series of riots in the city (Burrell and Gill 2005), but a statement read in all Roman Catholic churches led to the end of these disturbances (Liverpool Journal, 23 June 1832). Given these concerns, it is not surprising that those who could afford a secure interment within vaults would choose this option, and it is in that local, as well as national, context that the vaults discussed here should be considered.

ARCHITECTURAL CONTEXT

The church (Fig. 2) was designed by John Slater and was built between 1821 and 1827. It is a substantial building on a prominent rise with an impressive four-bay west front with wings fronted by Doric tetrastyle porches facing the road (Historic England 2001). The interior includes a substantial gallery on three sides. The church is surrounded by a small graveyard, part of which has now been covered in tarmac. A small number of monuments are still standing, but others have been laid flat. An unknown number have been buried in stacks below the grass surface at an unknown date (Mytum et al. 2022).

FIG. 2 Drone view of St Patrick’s churchyard church, with its impressive Western façade and the door to the crypt visible at ground level (photo by R. Philpott).

A Society of St Patrick was founded to fund and build a new Roman Catholic church in the Toxteth area, and at its first general meeting in November 1816 there were 105 members and subscribers present (O’Neill 2022). To purchase a site for a church and burial ground, and to design and erect a building large enough to serve the substantial local Roman Catholic population, was a challenge for the aspiring potential congregation as the estimated cost was £9,000. Such an endeavour initially faced opposition, as another church was considered as superfluous, but after demonstrating the need because of the size of the Catholic population, fundraising began and the foundation stone was laid in March 1821. An innovation in fundraising was weekly ‘penny collections for small alms from the poor, with regular visits to the homes of the poor’ (Belchem 2007, 106). The building attracted more than local interest and distinguished priests, some from Ireland, came and preached on the site - even during construction - to raise funds. Despite this, only £7,000 had been accumulated by July 1827. Continued efforts meant that by October 1830 all debts were cleared (O’Neill 2022), and importantly the ground floor of the church was free for the accommodation of all as intended by the founders.

The church was designed and built with a large crypt, its original role largely to provide a horizontal church floor on a sloping site. The entrance to the church is at ground level on the southern side, but the sloping ground means that entrance to the crypt on the west wall is also at ground level. The four vaults in the crypt were not constructed as part of the original design of the building, but they were added at the western end, adjacent to the entrance with its massive iron door (Fig. 3). Vault 4 was constructed in 1828, very soon after the completion of the church, but the other vaults have burials only from the 1830s onwards. Barrel-vaulted chambers were built against the west wall, butting up to the brick piers that comprised part of the structural support for the nave above. The piers north of Vault 4 and south of Vault 1 between Vaults 2 and 3 were two and a half bricks wide, full height, and extended beyond the vault front walls. However, the smaller piers between Vaults 1 and 2 and between 3 and 4 were only one brick wide and 13 courses high before they widened to two courses but then extended to the ceiling with courses a brick width, and they were flush with the front walls of the vaults. They line up with other similar lengths of walling joining equivalent piers to the east. Whilst there are many similarities between the vault designs, as they had to fit within this crypt architecture, each has some distinct features and their own biography, as is the case with many other family vaults elsewhere (Mytum 2020); these are described and discussed below for each vault. There is no documentation regarding when upstanding burial vaults and the larger vault in the crypt floor were added.

FIG. 3 Plan of St Patrick’s crypt showing the upstanding Vaults 1–4 at the west, with at least one below crypt floor level vault and also rock-cut pits for either burial or charnel (image by R. Philpott).

METHODOLOGY

The crypt was mapped using a combination of Total Station Theodolite and tapes, but the vault interiors were mapped using tapes. An additional record was created using photogrammetry, and all visible coffin fittings were individually photographed. Each coffin was labelled by vault number and with an identifier that was allocated from south to north for ground level coffins (e.g. V1A-C), and then the same for those raised up (e.g. V1D-E). The coffins were measured, and pXRF readings were taken on the lead lining and any fittings that were accessible. Access to some coffins was difficult, because nothing could be moved, and some were largely covered by a coffin above, so the data sets for each vault are not complete. A photogrammetric record of the façade of the vaults was created after they had been resealed, and this shows how each vault width was defined by the existing design of brick piers holding up the floor (Fig. 4).

FIG. 4 Isometric photograph of the elevations of Vaults 1–4, crypt (image by R. Philpott).

The coffin positions within the vaults were recorded, but all the vaults had apparently been reorganised since the 19th century. Some coffins in vaults 1–3 were raised up in wooden frames that are in a condition that is so much better than the coffin wood that they must be more recent. This must have involved removing the brick blocking for each vault, carrying out the work, and then resealing it. The size and treatment of the timber for the wooden frames were similar in all the vaults, so may have been done at the same time. Given that the debris in the excavated rock-cut burial shaft had material of various dates up to the 1970s this may have been when the vaults were entered, as part of a pattern of interventions at that time. Vault 4 was the only one with a door, which was secured with a lock; a new key had to be made recently to enable entry, but a photograph (undated but probably early 20th century) taken of the interior proves that access to Vault 4 could be arranged at any time since interment ceased (Fig. 5). At the time of the photograph the coffins were arranged nothing like how they are now, though this vault does not have any wooden frames today. Whilst there may have been rearranging of coffins as additional interments were made, the subsequent interventions mean that no internal spatial analysis is possible, and the coffins cannot be stratigraphically analysed to understand how the vaults were filled. The following technical terms used for the coffins and their fittings are those in common use in Britain; a comparison with North American terminology has been published elsewhere (Mytum 2018a, Table 1).

FIG. 5 Undated photograph, presumably early 20th-century, of Vault 4.

FIG. 6 Vault 1 for parish priests and Christian Brother (photo by J.R. Peterson).

TABLE 1 Names and known biographical details of those recorded in the vaults.

Vault 1 (5 coffins)

Rev William Parker (d. April 1847, aged 43)

Rev Richard Grayson (d. June 1847, aged 33)

Rev Edward Walmsley (d. November 1852) - death from fever (Burke 1910)

Rev James Haggar (d. June 1847, aged 29)

Brother Michael Joseph Maher (d. March 1846, aged 39)

Vault 2 (5 coffins)

Definite:Thomas Marsh (d. Aug 1838, aged 58)

Presumed:Thomas Marsh (bd. Jan 1839, aged 20, from register)

John Marsh (bd. Jan 1839, aged 19, from register)

Teresa Marsh (bd. Jan 1841, aged 14, from register)

Fifth unknown, presumably of Marsh family, who died after 1841; burial records from date date onwards are lost for St Patrick’s.

Vault 3 (3 coffins)

Definite:Jane Bury (d. Sept 1839, aged 40)

Thomas Bury (d. March 1847, aged 48)

Presumed:Jane Bury (bd. Feb 1837, aged 42, from register)

Vault 4 (5 coffins in vault, two under the floor)

Definite:Peter Roberts (d. May 1828, aged 45)

Mary Roberts (d. Sept 1848, aged 64)

Teresa Elizabeth Roberts (d. Sept 1839, not in register)

[Al]oysius Roberts (d. July 1833, infant, not in register)

Unknown infant, [Edw]ard, no date, not in register)

Probably elsewhere:Richard Roberts d. (Jan 1831, in the register Richard was buried in H3, so his breastplate was possibly placed in the vault after exhumation)

Under the floor: One adult and one child, the former may be Elizabeth or Thomas

Presumed:Elizabeth Roberts (bd. Nov 1835, aged 40, from register) or

Thomas Roberts (bd. May 1841, aged 25, from register)

VAULT 1 (Fig. 6)

The vault was constructed adjacent to the entrance to the crypt, and this is the only one with associated memorials (Mytum et al. 2022, Fig. 12). These are mounted on the south wall exterior, visible to all those entering the crypt. Michael Joseph Maher (d. 1846), Brother of the Sacred Heart, has a memorial of his own, whilst three of the priests who died in the typhus epidemic of 1847 are all on one memorial. Only the last interment, Rev. Edward Walmsley (d. 1852), is not commemorated. It is possible that the wall monuments were once on the church walls above, and they have been subsequently moved during an internal reordering to their present position. Other memorials are in the crypt, and it is unclear whether they relate to people also interred there or have been moved from outside, for example when ledgers were moved and buried (Mytum et al. 2022).

The interior of the vault is a rectangle measuring 2.90 × 1.99 m with a barrel vault springing from a triple projecting string course at 1.48 m to a height of 2.10 m. Access to the vault interior is through a centrally-placed window-like aperture with a segmented round top. Its horizontal stone sill is 0.29 m above the crypt floor and 0.82 m wide and 1.13 m high. This is sufficient to enter the vault and pass a coffin inside. It would have been resealed with brickwork after each interment.

The coffins in Vault 1 have external shells in relatively poor condition. The lower coffins (V1A-C) have been placed on wooden battens that rest on the floor and the upper two (V1D,E) have been raised on wooden frames, but these have collapsed. This has been complete on the south, and V1D now rests on V1A, so that the latter cannot be recorded in any detail. Measuring and photographing details of most coffins was particularly difficult in this vault as V1C and the collapsed wooden frames either side of it limited where recorders could stand, and only one transcription of a plate was possible. Two different designs of grip plate were noted, one copper alloy and the other cast and stamped iron, but neither could be associated with any particular coffin because they had become detached and lay on the vault floor.

The lengths of the coffins that could be taken were 1.70–1.96 m, suggesting the heights of the priests and lay brother varied between 1.58 m and 1.84 m at most, if the coffins had been made to measure, and were not just already-made coffins available at the time. The four coffin breastplates comprised three trapezoidal plates all of different sizes (V1B 0.36 m long, 0.27/0.23, V1C 0.41 m long, 0.31/0.25 wide, V1D 0.40 m long, 0.30/0.21 wide), and one shield shape (0.35 × 0.32 m max). The details of V1C’s breastplate inscription could be recorded. It was decorated at the top with an IHS with a cross surrounded by some scrollwork with text beneath in Gothic script: ‘Rev^nd [Jam^s] Nicolius Haggar/Presbyter … St. Patrici/Obit.. XXIII Juni/Anno Dni MDCCCXLVII/Aetatis suae/XIX/RIP’.

The V1D breastplate, the only shield-shaped example in this vault, belongs to the latest interment. It has a small IHS with a cross with three letters, not legible, beneath. The text below is in cursive italic script and parts can only be read to identify Eduardus Walmsley on the first line and ‘Requiescat in Pace’ for the final line. The use of Latin was widespread in liturgy and teaching within the Roman Catholic church, and all services were in Latin, so it is unsurprising that both the clerics' breastplates used this language. The different treatment of the clerical interments can be seen in that all these coffins have the head to the east, as has long been the tradition in the Catholic church and also perpetuated in Anglican burial, so that at the Second Coming the clergy will rise to face their flock to lead them to the final judgement. Given the limited space in this vault, even though new wooden staging had been placed in it, turning these coffins round at that point would have been extremely difficult.

VAULT 2 (Figs 7, 8)

The Marsh family commissioned Vault 2, but even though several members are listed in the extant burial registers for St Patrick’s, other sources are problematic because several Thomas Marsh tradesmen are listed in Gore’s 1821 Directory of Liverpool (p. 207), a wholesale slop-dealer and packer, a staymaker, and a timber-merchant and measurer. Only the last was still listed in Gore’s 1829 directory (p. 355), so may be most likely, especially as a probate for a merchant of this name was lodged in October 1838, after the death in the burial register in August of that year (Probate for Thomas Marsh 1838).

FIG. 7 Vault 2 for the marsh family (photo by J.R. Peterson).

FIG. 8 Coffin plates from vault 2: (a,b) V2B and V2D stamped iron shields; (c) V2C brass shield, (d) V2E stamped iron pedimented shield with border (photos by J.R. Peterson).

The interior of the vault is a rectangle measuring 2.9 × 1.98 m with a barrel vault springing from a triple projecting string course at 1.51 m to a height of 2.06 m. Access to the interior is through a slightly off-centre rectangular aperture with a wooden sill 0.70 m above the crypt floor and 0.82 m wide and 0.94 m high; the wooden lintel was 0.08 m thick. The higher sill made access to the vaults more difficult than with Vault 1.

The coffins in Vault 2 have external shells in relatively poor condition, apart from V2E which was the latest but also had better air circulation as it rested on the relatively recent frame. The lower coffins (V1A-C) have been placed on wooden battens that rest on the floor but V2D had been placed on top of V2A, so that the latter cannot be recorded in any detail. Measuring and photographing details of most coffins was particularly difficult in this vault as V1C and the collapsed wooden frames on either side of it limited where recorders could stand, and only one transcription of a plate was possible. Two different designs of grip plate were noted, one copper alloy and the other cast and stamped iron, but neither could be associated with any particular coffin as they had fallen off the coffins and lay on the vault floor.

The length of the coffins that could be taken were 1.90 − 2.05 m. Three coffin breastplates comprised shield shapes of varying proportions (V2B 0.39 m long, 0.32 m max. width, V2C 0.40 m long, 0.36 m max. width, V2D 0.40 m long, 0.29 max. width), and also V2E with a shield with a surround of scrolls and pedimented top 0.40, 0.35 m max width. The breastplates on V2B, V2D and V2E are stamped iron which would have had painted text and which are not exactly paralleled at any site’s published images. In contrast, V2C has an inscribed copper alloy plate, the full details of which cannot be transcribed because of its position beneath V2E, but was for Thomas Marsh (d.1838), and is in Latin, with a small, simple IHS with cross.

VAULT 3 (Figs 9, 10)

Vault 3 was constructed for the Bury family, for whom some documentation has survived. Thomas Bury died in 1847, so he can be identified in the 1841 census, where he is listed as a hide merchant. He resided at Great George Street, a short walk south to St Patrick’s and north to the city centre, in a substantial house which housed the by then widowed Thomas with six of his children, a governess, and four servants. The census notes that Thomas had been born in Ireland, as were two of the servants, but the rest were all born in Lancashire. Even by 1829 his business was already successful enough for him to be living at 56 Upper Parliament Street, and at his death his estate was assessed for probate (Lancashire wills 1826–30). It seems that the business continued as in 1853 it is listed in Gore’s Directory as Thomas Bury and Son, hide merchant, with the business at 17, King Street. This information indicates the socio-economic level of at least one of the families commissioning a vault.

FIG. 9 Vault 3 for the bury family (photo by J.R. Peterson).

FIG. 10 Brass coffin plates from vault 3: (a) V3A for Thomas Bury d. 1847; (b) V3C for Jane Bury d. 1839 (photos by J.R. Peterson).

The interior of the vault is a rectangle measuring 2.88 × 1.95 m with a barrel vault springing from a triple projecting string course at 1.53 m to a height of 2.15 m and a single line of bricks along the base of the long sides of the vault. Access to the interior is through a slightly off-centre rectangular aperture with no surviving sill or lintel. The aperture was 0.20 m above the crypt floor, 0.76 m wide and 1.18 m high. The low sill made access to the vaults relatively easy. A 0.14 m thick wooden lintel for this vault which spreads the weight across most but not all of the front wall, lies well above the aperture. On both long walls inside the vault are iron nails hammered into the brick at varied intervals, but mainly c. 0.65 m apart, presumably associated with now-rotted battens which would have helped support wooden frames which presumably were on both sides, but which were removed when the replacement frame on both was installed; none was needed on the south as there is no fourth coffin in this vault.

The lengths of the coffins that could be taken were 1.85–2.05 m. The three coffins all had brass shield shaped breastplates of varying proportions (V3A 0.39 m long, 0.32 m max. width, V3B 0.36 m long, 0.30 m max. width, V3C 0.39 m long, 0.34 max. width (Fig. 10). Two could be transcribed, and both were decorated at the top with an IHS with a cross, though the shading within the lettering was different. The text on V3A comprised: ‘Thomas Bury/Died/23^rd March 1847/Aged 48 Years’, and ‘Jane Bury/Died 22^nd Sep^t 1839/Aged 40 Years’ on V3C. The lettering on V3A is a mixture of calligraphic, Gothic and Roman italic but is only calligraphic on V3C; it is notable that these texts are both in English, not Latin. Only one grip could be located, at the foot end of V3A, and is a simple iron drop handle on a rectangular grip plate.

FIG. 11 Vault 4 for the Roberts family (photo by J.R. Peterson).

FIG. 12 Brass breastplates in Vault 4; (a) V4B for Peter Roberts d. 1828; (b) now lying on V4C but not related to it, for Richard Roberts d. 1831 (photos by J.R. Peterson).

VAULT 4 (Figs 5, 11, 12)

This is the most elaborate vault both in construction and use. The interior is a rectangle measuring 2.95 × 1.95 m with a barrel vault springing from a single string course at 1.61 m to a height of 2.11 m. At the west end, an engaged pier built at the south side is two bricks wide and one brick thick, with a matching loose stone slab at the north corner. Access is enabled through a doorway 0.90 × 2.21 m. There is an iron lintel plate 2.07 m long. This is the only vault with a door, of cast iron that is designed as a skeuomorph of a wooden three-panel door with a knob handle and keyhole below, and it was set in a cast iron doorframe flush with the exterior surface. An oval roundel at the foot of the door indicates that it was produced by ‘Blount, Eagle Foundry, Liverpool’, a business listed in Gore’s Directory for 1829. Ownership of the vault is indicated by raised lettering ‘PETER ROBERTS/1828’ in the central panel. The floor is one brick course lower than the exterior and covered with rectangular stone slabs, and in the centre are two rows of two removable slabs, each with two triangular iron handles affixed with loops so that access could be gained to a lower vault space beneath. Because there was no possibility of moving coffins, it was impracticable to access this space but one of the volunteers had earlier moved a coffin and had noted that there were two coffins in this space (see Table 1). Further evidence that the coffins have been moved is that some have the head end to the east instead of the standard west position; there was less floor space taken up in this vault with coffins, so later rearrangement would have been possible here.

As there is now no wooden frame, all the coffins are on the floor, but the old photograph (Fig. 5) shows a wooden shelf based on the engaged piers with a decayed coffin beneath and another with no cloth covering visible above; a third coffin, dark and presumably still cloth-covered, rests on top. In the view are no coffins on the floor, but the southern part of the vault is not visible, and it is possible that other coffins were placed there. Embedded within the long walls between the courses are several corroded iron straps that presumably held in place a wooden frame that had been part of an earlier design of the vault interior that had been removed by the time of the photograph, so the coffins may have been rearranged several times in this vault.

A Peter Roberts, a sailmaker, married Mary McDonnell in April 1804 in Trinity Anglican Church, Liverpool. He is listed as the same occupation at the east side of Salthouse Dock in 1821 (Gore 1821, 259) and in 1827 (Gore 1827, 386). His will described him as a sailmaker (Lancashire wills 1826–30), and after his death the business was continued at the same address. Mary and Peter Jr. are recorded as living at Upper Parliament Street, and Peter marries and moves to Stanhope Street by the time of the 1841 census. Both streets are located near St Patrick's Church.

The lengths of the adult coffins were 1.84–1.92 m. Two shield shaped brass breastplates were in the vault, in situ on V4B (0.32 m long, 0.27 m max. width), but another lay on V4C (0.36 m long, 0.28 m max. width) but was not associated with it. Both had IHS with cross designs at the top, though they were different designs. The texts were laid out in a similar way using calligraphic and Gothic script, though the last lines varied with V4B in Roman print hand font (Hoile 2020 153) and the other calligraphic: ‘Peter Roberts/Died/30^th March 1828/AGED 45 YEARS’ (V4B) and ‘Rich^d Roberts/Died/30^TH JAN^Y 1831/Aged 17^rs’ (now lying on V4C but not related to it).

Painted text occurs on two coffins, and is a reminder of what may be lost on excavated examples. A wooden ringed cross was fixed on the top of coffin V4C but it is incomplete so not all the inscription can be reconstructed: ‘Teresa/[Eliza]beth Roberts/[Died] Sep^r 25^th 1839’. The latest coffin V4A was cloth-covered, the only one with a velvet fabric, but also has a wooden edging around the coffin lid with the painted Gothic text largely in red but with some additional gold. It reads: ‘Of your Charity Pray for the Soul of’ followed by some foliage on one long side and ‘who died sept – XII MDCCCXLVIII Aged LXIV years’ on the other, and ‘+ In Hoc/Signo Vinces’ on the stepped base. Only the name, ‘MARY ROBERTS’ was in red and gold Roman lettering at the head of the coffin. The phrase, In Hoc Signo Vinces (In this sign may you conquer), refers to the cross being the sign of not only the Crucifixion but also Christ’s Resurrection, and therefore his overcoming of death (Fig. 13).

FIG. 13 Painted text on coffins in Vault 4: (a) V4A for Mary Roberts, d. 1848; (b) V4C for Teresa Roberts d. 1839; (c) small copper alloy cross on child coffin for Aloysius Roberts d. 1833 (photos by J.R. Peterson).

Unlike all the other vaults, Vault 4 contains non-adult interments, with coffins 0.79 m and 0.64 m long, suggesting very young individuals. There are no metal grips, but the ends have cotton ribbon loops acting as handles instead. Coffin V4D had its side collapsed and the packing material of wood shavings was visible. This coffin had a cloth covering and a small cross was fixed to the lid. The letters [… ARD] could be identified on the horizontal arms of the cross – possibly suggesting that the child’s name was Edward. No textile covering survived on V4E but on the top was a small copper alloy cross with expanded terminals and fan motifs at the base of the arms. It was incised with a Gothic font IHS at the top with ‘[AL]OYSIUS ROBER[TS]’ in Roman font across the arms and July 23/1833 at the bottom (Fig. 14).

FIG. 14 Child coffins V4D and V4E in vault 4 (photo by J.R. Peterson).

COFFINS AND FITTINGS: TECHNIQUES AND MATERIALS

THE COFFINS

The wood for most of the coffin's outer shells was intact but in a fragile state, so fragments were falling off or the elements were falling apart. Wood samples were retrieved from the outer shells of V1A–E, V2A–E, V3B, C, and V4B–E. In addition, packing material from within V4E was also accessible. None of the triple shell coffins had lead linings sufficiently damaged to allow access to the inner wooden shells, and V3A and V4A were too well preserved for fragments of the wooden outer shell to have fallen off.

WOOD IDENTIFICATION BY NICOLA GEORGE AND JORDAN POOLE

A single sample from each coffin was selected for identification purposes, with a preference for those in the best condition. Thin radial slices of wood were cut with a medical scalpel and red dye was applied to highlight the wood’s structure under a high-definition Keyence microscope to identify these samples whilst eliminating the need to prepare thin sections.

Fig. 15 shows the square to hexagonal shape of the tracheids typical of young pine, and the large pits known as resin canals are also characteristic of pine (Schweingruber 1990, 129). The growth ring boundaries are clearly visible. Microscopically, the samples were compared to known archaeological wood species, and all were pine (Stelzner et al. 2023). Equivalent images from other 19th-century coffins have not been published, and indeed there is little detail on woods used for coffins in most reports.

FIG. 15 Wood identification: high-definition image of pine from coffin V4D (photo by N. George).

METALWORK (Figs 8, 10, 12, 13, 15)

The coffin fittings comprise grips and grip plates, breastplates and, in a few cases, other symbolic decorative items. Most are metal, so are discussed here, but the few that are other materials are also considered here from a stylistic perspective.

The breastplates are either brass or stamped iron. The brass examples have no decoration apart from the incised designs, largely text and the IHS with a cross symbol (Figs 9, 12). Most are shield-shaped (V1D, V3A, V3C, V4B and one loose but on V4C) but one (V1B) was trapezoid. There is only minor variation in terms of letter styles, details of the symbols, use of scrolls, and textual content, but each one is slightly different in size and proportions, so there is not one standard size. All were placed in the normal location near the widest point of the coffin lid. The stamped iron examples included shield designs with decorative edging, with a simple moulded design for V2B and V2D, but a pedimented top and higher relief edging for V2E (Fig. 8). Instead of breastplates, the children’s coffins had crosses on top, with a copper alloy example on V4E (Fig. 13c).

Only a small number of grips were used, and all have accompanying grip plates (Fig. 16). A rare example of a copper alloy grip and plate was noted in Vault 1, displaced but still attached to a fragment of the foot end of a coffin (Fig. 16a, b). It had a simple drop handle with an expanded centre and a shield-shaped grip plate, fixed to the wood with pins with square bolts on the interior. The other grips were all iron. Vault 1 also produced a grip held in place with simple hammered points attached to the ball terminals of the swing bail; near it was part of a stamped iron grip plate that may have accompanied it, with a pedimented top but most of the design has been lost (Fig. 16c). Vault 2 contained a variety of simple drop grips on rectangular plates, all fallen from coffins, but some could, by their proximity, be provisionally linked to particular coffins. One with concave corners and integral loops to hold the grip was from V2E (Fig. 15e); it seems to have been covered with black lacquer. The same grip design and method of fixing was on a rectangular grip plate with angled corners fixed into the wood by round-headed screws and was used on both V2A (Fig. 16d) and V2B; these had the plates covered by the fabric, showing that some of the less elaborate plates were not visible on the final product, and only the grip could be seen. Another plate of this form had a decorative central feature, either a radiate effect or a crown, so this would have been visible (Fig. 16e). The only more complex grip plate was that from V4A, with an iron grip and plate though the latter has a copper alloy cross applied above the grip (Fig. 16e).

FIG. 16 Grips and grip plates from Vaults 1 and 2 (photos by J.R. Peterson).

ARTEFACT ANALYSIS AND IDENTIFICATION

The survey has enabled some aspects of materials analysis to be undertaken, either in situ with pXRF, using a Thermo Fisher Niton XL3t XRF analyser, or by taking small samples of wood and textile.

METALLURGICAL ANALYSIS BY NICOLA GEORGE

The pXRF analysis indicates a high lead level on the metal lining, as predicted (Table 2). Where the corrosion was most advanced, the lead levels had dropped slightly. The high levels of sulphide detected are typical of lead corrosion as the metal converts to lead sulphides/sulphates (PbSO₄), visible here as a white microcrystalline substance. Trace amounts of chloride suggest hydrochloride corrosion products, largely associated with wet environments; however, the low levels suggest a reaction with the atmosphere in relatively dry conditions within the vaults (Graedel 1994). Arsenic was probably added to the lead to harden the alloy. The solder could be analysed in two cases; one (V1C) used a high lead level, the other (V1E) also contained a very significant amount of tin.

TABLE 2 pXRF Analyses of lead shells of coffins in Vaults 1–4.

		Pb	As	S	Sn	Cl	Mg
Coffin	Comment	Lead	Arsenic	Sulphur	Tin	Chlorine	Manganese	Balance
V1A	Extensive surface corrosion	55.8	3.5	17.0	0.3	0.4	18.0	4.9
V1B	Minimal corrosion	50.2	3.2	23.5	0.0	0.6	10.6	11.8
V1C	Minimal corrosion	53.7	3.4	23.8	0.0	0.7	8.2	10.3
V1C	Corroded solder joint	61.4	3.6	17.6	0.0	0.4	0.0	6.9
V1D	Minimal white oxide corrosion	59.8	3.7	26.8	0.0	0.7	0.0	9.0
V1E	Minimal corrosion	59.3	3.8	27.7	0.0	0.7	0.0	8.5
V1E	Solder joint minimal corrosion	30.9	2.4	19.3	41.7	0.4	0.0	5.2
V2A	Minimal corrosion	54.1	3.3	22.6	0.2	0.6	0.0	19.1
V2B	Minimal corrosion	55.6	3.6	23.7	0.0	0.6	7.7	8.9
V3B	White & yellow corrosion	62.5	3.9	26.6	0.0	0.6	0.0	6.3
V3C	Minimal corrosion	52.4	3.1	22.6	0.0	0.5	14.7	6.7
V4B	Minimal corrosion	52.8	3.3	25.5	0.0	0.5	8.6	9.3

The iron coffin fittings that were analysed suggest limited surface treatment, though one that appeared to be tin-plated on V2E did indeed show a high tin level, though not as high as that on examples from elsewhere that had been cleaned before laboratory analysis.

Brass was used for the breast plates, with copper content of c. 60–70% and with zinc at 24–30% (Table 3). The copper content was slightly lower with samples taken from plates with some corrosion. Copper-zinc alloys containing up to 29% zinc are typically used for sheet metal and therefore a suitable material for the brass coffin plates. V4B with high totals Cu-Zn composition 70.7% copper and 24.4% zinc, with small quantities of lead 1.2% and aluminium 1.7%. Zinc is soluble within copper up to 29% Zn at room temperature resulting in a single-phase microstructure; however small inclusions of aluminium and lead may interfere with this system.

TABLE 3 pXRF Analyses of brass and iron breastplates.

		Pb	As	Zn	Cu	S	Sn	Al
Coffin	Comment	Lead	Arsenic	Zinc	Copper	Sulphur	Tin	Aluminium	Balance
V1B	Oxidised surface	0.6	0.1	24.2	61.8	7.7	0.0	1.7	3.8
V1C	Minimal corrosion	0.5	0.1	27.3	60.3	7.6	0.1	1.2	3.0
V1D	Minimal corrosion	0.4	0.0	30.7	57.2	5.7	0.1	2.1	3.9
V1E	Minimal corrosion	0.6	0.1	25.6	61.6	7.4	0.0	1.1	3.6
V3A	No corrosion	0.6	0.1	30.6	60.1	4.2		1.1	3.2
V3C	No corrosion	1.0	0.1	28.3	59.9	7.8	0.0	0.0	2.9
V4B	No corrosion	1.2	0.2	24.4	70.7	0.7	0.0	1.6	1.3
V4C	No corrosion	0.8	0.1	29.4	65.3	1.0	0.1	1.2	2.2
		Pb	As	Zn	Cu	S	Sn	Fe	Balance
Coffin	Comment	Lead	Arsenic	Zinc	Copper	Sulphur	Tin	Iron
V2E	Iron tin plated	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	2.1	26.1	19.5	52.3

TEXTILES

Many of the coffins retained traces of textile covering, and in some cases (notably V2E and V3A) this largely survived. Cloth samples were obtained from V1D, V2A-E, V3A-C and V4A, B, D, E. Where the colour could be recognised, all were brown, though they appear black in the vaults. The only adult coffin that was covered with velvet rather than baize was that of V4A, which was also decorated with painted text and symbolism. This reflects the transition from cloth-covered coffins to those of polished wood which took place during the 19th century, with this example combining the two.

An interesting feature of the cloth covering is that it appears to have been glued onto the surface of the wood; there are no upholstery pins on any of the coffins. The child coffins did not have metal grips but had cotton looped handles fed through drilled holes and tied in a knot inside the coffin (Fig. 17).

FIG. 17 Textile handles (grips) on child coffins V4D and V4E in Vault 4 (photo by J.R. Peterson).

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF THE TEXTILE SAMPLES BY SARAH HITCHENS

Fourteen textile fragments and a piece of decorative fringing were recovered from various coffins in the crypt of St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church. Thirteen of the cloth fragments, as well as the decorative fringing, were cut and removed from the outside of the coffins by the recorders while sample 1 was recovered from the inside of coffin V4E. The textiles were analysed with a Keyence microscope using magnifications of 40x to 1000x. The cloth fragments from the outside of the coffins are quite degraded and very friable, so little technical information can be obtained, but all the textiles are tabby (plain) woven. Some samples had material on the surface; this may have been the glue used to affix the fabric, but this has not yet been analysed.

Textile coffin cover samples (V1D, V2A-C, V3A-C, V4A-D) are all woven, dark brown in colour, and very similar in appearance. A few such as samples 4, 5, and 11 appear almost black, but this is probably due to the discolouration of the textile over time. Fibre analysis of Textiles 2, 3, 9, 13, and 14 showed that the dark brown textiles were made from wool and as the other textiles are of similar appearance and colour it is likely that they are the same material. The coffin coverings are all tabby (plain) woven with most being tightly woven, with the more open weave areas probably due to differential preservation of the yarns (Fig. 18, top). Most fragments appear to be a baize textile. The characteristics of a baize textile means that the structure of the yarns cannot be observed on one side, and even on the reverse side it is often difficult to obtain accurate technical details, though sample 2 has a thread count of 16 System 1 yarns per cm² and 20–23 System 2 yarns per cm². System 1 is the hypothetical or perceived warp whilst System 2 is used to denote what is believed to be the weft when this cannot be confirmed when studying fragmentary remains.

FIG. 18 Textile identification: high-definition images of tabby coffin covering for V2E (top), velvet covering for V4A (Middle), selvedge of interior textile from child coffin V4E (bottom); (photos by S. Hitchens).

Coffin V4A was covered with a velvet (sample 3), and the reverse shows that 2–3 supplementary yarns were inserted into the ground weave to create the velvet loops (Fig. 18, middle). The thread count for sample 3 was 31.5 yarns in System 1 and 18 + Supplementary yarns in System 2 per cm². It was difficult to observe the individual supplementary yarns.

As the cloth fragments were cut from the coffins, no selvedges or borders were present making it impossible to definitively state the warp and weft direction of the yarns. The spin direction of many yarns is also difficult to see clearly. Many of the yarns are very lightly spun and appear almost unspun, though both S-spun and Z-spun yarns are present in the textiles. Plied yarns were also used in some of the textiles, including samples 1 and 3. A few yarn diameter measurements were taken from samples 2 and 3. However, it was only possible to measure a few System 2 yarns from sample 2. The System 2 yarns range from 0.40 to 0.45 mm in diameter. The System 1 yarns from fragment sample 3 are plied and have yarn diameter measurements ranging from 0.22 to 0.28 mm whilst the System 2 yarns are not plied and have a yarn diameter range from 0.10 to 0.25 mm.

Unlike the previous textiles, sample 1 was taken from inside a coffin – child coffin V1E – and was made from cotton, light beige in appearance and is a tightly woven tabby with a reinforced selvedge. It may have been part of the child’s clothing (Fig. 18, bottom).

The textiles for coffin covering that could be identified were all made from dark brown wool, tabby woven, and similar textiles were found on coffins from St George’s Church Bloomsbury assemblage (Boston et al. 2009, 163), from the coffins of St Luke’s in Islington (Boyle, Boston, and Witkin 2005 91–92), and on the coffins in Spitalfields, London (Reeve and Adams 1993). Twenty-eight of the 33 coffin coverings at St Luke’s Church, Islington, were baize (Boyle, Boston, and Witkin 2005, 91). However, unlike some of the coffin coverings at most of these sites, none of the cloth fragments from the St Patrick’s coffin covers were colourfully dyed. Janaway (1998) notes that at Spitalfields despite the use of some bright colours most coffin coverings were of dark green or black baize, but that the black could degrade to suggest another colour, and the same may have been the case at St Patrick’s.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, wealthier individuals were buried in coffins covered in velvet, while less wealthy individuals were often buried in coffins covered with woollen baize cloth (Litten 1998, 12). Baize making was an important part of English textile manufacture (Kerridge 1985, 107). In the 1600s ‘burying baize’ was created as a response to a parliamentary statute stating that the dead should be buried in woollen cloth (Kerridge 1985,106). As most of the analysed textiles from St Patrick’s appear to be baize and one velvet, and lack the use of colourful dyes, it may be an indication of the economic status of the buried individuals, but may relate to regional or religious preferences.

DISCUSSION

Where this could be observed, for adults there was an outer wooden coffin (shell) inside which was a lead shell, and presumably a further inner wooden shell in which the deceased would have been placed; this may have had padding on the base and been lined with fabric. This is the standard triple-shell coffin construction found widely across Britain. The overall external coffin measurements are therefore several centimetres in each direction larger than the space for the body; as these measurements varied the coffins had all been made to measure. Infants were interred within single-shell wooden coffins.

The coffin construction methods are similar to those elsewhere (Boston et al. 2009, 150–51), though the wooden outer shells were all made from eight separate panels of wood, as the long sides were made of two separate pieces rather than the usual single planked side that was kerfed to enable a bend at the shoulder (Plume 1910). Where it was possible to examine the lids, they were all single pieces, not made from a series of planks. The separate portions were not jointed together but assembled using small iron nails (and possibly glue). The side and end panels were fixed to the sides of the base and extended sufficiently for the head and foot ends to be fixed between the sides. At St Patrick’s most coffins were then covered with textile glued onto the wood, and the limited numbers of grips and grip plates (possibly only on the head and foot ends given the small numbers found) were put in place. The lids were covered separately and had any breastplate added on top. The coffin would have remained open during the period of viewing in the deceased’s home and then, prior to the funeral, the lid, which covered the whole of the surface area, was fixed in place. In some cases, a thin strip of cloth-covered wood was added around the edges, creating an image of a lid lip, and hiding the join between the body of the coffin and its lid. The best-preserved examples (V2E, V3A) also reveal a similar elaboration ran around the exterior base of the coffin (Fig. 19).

FIG. 19 Coffin V3A showing the construction of the textile-covered coffin with lid and edging round the top and bottom of the coffin. There is a cast iron grip at the foot; there are no grips on the sides (photo by J.R. Peterson).

The only adult exception to the above construction is the coffin containing the latest interment (V4A) in 1848. It had more elaborate construction, presumably because this marked the change from cloth covering to a polished wood surface, here decorated by a central applied wooden Latin cross on a stepped base. Strips of wood round the top edge were decorated with a mainly Gothic font text painted in red with ‘Of your Charity Pray for the Soul of’ followed by some foliage on one long side and ‘who died sept – XII MDCCCXLVIII Aged LXIV years’ on the other, and ‘+ In Hoc/Signo Vinces’ on the basal steps. Only the name, ‘MARY ROBERTS’ was in red and gold Roman lettering at the head of the coffin.

The most notable feature of the St Patrick’s vault coffins is the lack of upholstery pins to decorate the cloth coverings, and the absence of grips and grip plates on the sides of the coffins. Moreover, the few items of coffin furniture are generally plain, and both breastplates and grips do not carry the typical decoration of cherubs or vegetation seen on so much of the coffin furniture at the vault and crypt examinations elsewhere. This absence of decorative furniture on coffins of families able to afford the construction of family vaults indicates a clear choice; it cannot be lack of funds given that a vault must have been costly. Given that no other vaults have been studied in northwest England it is difficult to assess whether this simplicity of design is a regional phenomenon or whether it is particular to St Patrick’s. Even some earth burials for Roman Catholics elsewhere have been more highly decorated, notably with the use of copper alloy Crucifixion items on the lids, but these coffins have no lid motifs and only the breastplates. Only the Roberts’ Vault 4 contains several cross motifs, on both adults and infants, and they are even absent from that of the priests. The lack of ostentation may indicate a level of community solidarity with those who could only afford simple wooden coffins. The undecorated appearance would have been noticeable at the laying out in the home prior to the funeral, and in the procession to and within the church, unless a funeral pall covered the coffin at this stage of the funeral.

Mary Roberts’ coffin V4A marks an innovation in choice in more expensive coffins in the 1840s from only the cloth-covered to polished wood designs, though others only a year or two earlier (V1A-E, V3A) were all of the older style. St George’s Church Bloomsbury crypt had 75 interments after 1841 (Boston et al. 2009), and with others recovered from St. Lukes (Boyle, Boston, and Witkin 2005 Table 4.8) it is notable that not one is of this new style. Mary Roberts’ coffin may therefore be an early example of a shift in popularity towards polished wood that is later represented in the catalogue of Ingall, Parsons, Clive and Co. Ltd. (nd), perhaps because these could offer an elaborate appearance for a lower price than a cloth-covered coffin decorated with a range of coffin furniture. The catalogue images all show grips and breastplates, but that for Mary Roberts relied completely on wood instead of a breastplate, but did have small grips and plates at the foot and probably the head. It is notable that the priests at St Patrick’s did not set a new trend, though perhaps the 1847 typhus outbreak and the need for numerous coffins constructed rapidly to meet demand may have prevented the transition to innovative forms, especially as these required more carpentry and painting. The use of Gothic script and colour on V4A can be paralleled with the popularity of Gothic revival internal brass memorials with polychrome painted or enamelled lettering found widely across England. The decoration on this coffin would have been a notable contrast with the black simplicity of the earlier coffins.

TABLE 4 Textile identifications.

Coffin no.	Sample no.	Fibre	Weave
V1D	5	Wool
V2A	6	Wool
V2B	13	Wool	Tabby
V2C	12	Wool
V2D	10	Wool
V2E	14	Wool	Tabby
V3A	2	Wool	Tabby
V3B	9	Wool	Tabby
V3C	4	Wool
V4A	3	Wool	Velvet
V4B	8	Wool
V4C	11	Wool
V4D	7	Wool
V4E	1	Cotton?	Tabby

CONCLUSIONS

Most adult coffins in the St Patrick’s vaults conformed to a standard design, perhaps because they were all made at the same local undertaker or reflected a regional style. This form, with few fittings and glued brown tabby wool fabric, is not one noted in any numbers in British vault assemblages studied thus far, though no other vaults have been recorded for northwest England. The fonts used on the breastplates can be paralleled in London (Hoile 2018, 2020) and are typical of their date. However, both the brass and stamped iron examples are all at the plain end of the spectrum in other respects and, given that these are from interments in family vaults, they are noticeably lacking the forms of decoration normally seen on contemporary coffins from London. The simpler design and decoration seen here might be due to a lack of disposable income, but this is unlikely given that these families could commission internal vaults. It is more likely that these families, with Irish origins, preferred to expend resources on post-funeral consumption. The coffin and formal funeral were perhaps not the foci of expenditure but rather the communal wake and associated hospitality took priority.

The brass shield-shaped breastplates vary slightly in their dimensions, which may suggest that they were obtained from a number of workshops, but there is no evidence to identify these. The engraving may have been undertaken by the undertakers, or by specialist chasers discussed by Hoile (2020, 83–84). The IHS designs mirror the iconography on the memorials and differentiate their clientele as Roman Catholic (Mytum 2009). Such motifs were not used in this way in Anglican mortuary culture in the early 19th century; the IHS motif only became acceptable as an Anglican motif in the latter part of the century when it was popular on memorials, especially as a monogram, a form not seen on Catholic memorials in Ireland, though it does occur at Liverpool cemeteries including the Roman Catholic Ford cemetery. The form of the IHS motif on the breastplates has the vertical arm of the cross tapering, just as it is on some memorials at St Patrick’s, and in a design found widely in Roman Catholic iconography of the time, both on grave memorials but also ecclesiastical objects, churches, and dwellings where religious affiliation was displayed (Roberts 1994; Donnelly 2005). The use of this symbol may have wider identity implications when on public display but given the limited and temporary visibility on the coffin furniture suggests selection as appropriate by the undertakers given their known clients (Mytum 2018b). The Roberts family in Vault 4 also displays overt Roman Catholic symbolism through the use of crosses, including one ringed cross. The Mary Roberts inscription phrases ‘Of your Charity Pray for the Soul of’ and ‘In Hoc/Signo Vinces’ are also characteristic religious phrases which occur on Irish Roman Catholic memorials, though the former is often abbreviated to ‘Pray for the Soul of’. Another Roman Catholic trait is that the priests and Christian Brother were treated as a family and had their own vault, unlike Anglican priests who would be interred with their individual families. Moreover, the use of Latin on the Vault 1 breastplates is also notable given that many contemporary Roman Catholic church documents, such as all of the registers, used Latin.

Overall, therefore, there are clear Roman Catholic attributes present in symbolism and text, but until more study of vault and crypt assemblages of various denominations are recorded in north-west England it is not possible to determine the causes of the unusual plainness of the coffins. This may be explained as denominational, a local style, or even linked to an Irish tradition (though Anglican St Michen’s Church crypt in Dublin contains coffins similar to those from London, with heavy use of tinned grip plates and upholstery pin designs). This study demonstrates that the large and excellently researched assemblages from Anglican vaults and crypts (mainly but not exclusively from London) need to be complemented by other denominational and regional assemblages to reveal the full diversity of mortuary practices in 19th century England.

Acknowledgements

The members of St Patrick’s parish invited us to record the crypt and they supported us logistically and with copious refreshments; Michael O’Neill shared his considerable knowledge of the church’s history prior to the publication of his book on the subject. University of Liverpool students Sarah Edmunds, Elinor Griffiths, Jasmine Murphy and Lauren Spencer assisted with the vault and crypt recording, the first two of whom whilst on the University of Liverpool’s Undergraduate Research Placement Scheme. J.R. Peterson (photography) and P. Gethin (pXRF readings) assisted the team in the vaults.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).