The Burial on the Wall

 

67/365: the coffin on the wall at Edington Priory Church

This is the reason I wanted to go back to look around Edington Priory Church. I know there is evidence of burials in or against church walls around the country but I think it's quite unusual to see one on top of a boundary wall like this one.  It's on the east wall of the churchyard, the boundary between the priory church and what is now a private garden but which may have been part of the priory in the past. The priory itself was built between 1352 and 1361 and was home to the Bonhommes monks until the dissolution of the monasteries (1536 - 1541) which marked the end of a monastic community at Edington. The priory church was left intact and continued to serve the community as the parish church. 

The burial on the wall remains a bit of a mystery as the church doesn't have a record of when or why it was built or who, if anyone, is buried there.  It's not a child sized coffin but equally is not particularly big even accounting for the fact that people were shorter in previous centuries, but it is ornate (as seen in the second photo) so it's likely it would have been expensive to construct. As far as I know it has never been investigated to establish its age or to see if it contains any remains.

There are however a few stories about it, all of which follow the theme that it is the final resting place of someone who was deemed unworthy to be buried in consecrated grounds. On school trips to look around the church we were always told that it was called "The Witch's Coffin". The name of the witch has long since been forgotten but, according to the story we were told, when the witch died she couldn't be buried in the graveyard because of her beliefs so was buried on top of the wall. 

Another story is that it is the final resting place of a disgraced monk who was known to slip out of the monastery at night to visit the ladies of the village! He was excommunicated for his sins so couldn't be buried in the graveyard and ended up on top of the wall. A slightly grimmer version of this is that it is the coffin of a novice monk who was walled up alive in the thirteenth century for falling in love with a local girl. A slightly different version is that it is the coffin of an Abbot who upset the church in some way so wasn't allowed to be interred in the priory church or in the part of the churchyard set aside for the final resting places for the members of the monastic community. 

Alternatively it is also claimed to contains the remains of Anthony Ettrick (1623 - 1703), a slightly mad lawyer who obtained permission to be laid to rest on the wall. If there's any truth in any of the stories, this seems to be the most unlikely. Edited to say that this can't be true. I've since found out the correct location of Ettrick's wall burial and will write about it once I've visited that particular church.

One explanation for the burial on top of the wall could be that is was the only option for a loved one who hadn't been baptised or who had committed suicide, as in those cases a burial in consecrated ground would not have been permitted.

So, lots of stories but who knows whether any of them are true. These are the sort of stories that make me love local history though, so I for one am glad that it remains a mystery!