Surprise at St Andrew's Shrivenham

Numbers attending the first of the winter talks were swelled with several Shrivenham residents as Dr Margaret Andrews  shared her account of the discovery under St Andrews church in 2020.  She was a GP in the Elm Tree Surgery when the church warden came to her with an unusual request, her MSc in archaeology  made her the ideal person.   Shortly afterwards, suitably attired in protective clothing, she was one of the very few people to venture into the hole made by contractors digging a drain that had revealed the entrance to the Barrington burial vault under the church porch.  We heard her comprehensive, illustrated account of all the structure of the chambers, the stairways, how that related to the current day porch, the coffins therein and the history of the Barrington family which added to the knowledge of one descendent who was in the audience.  Margaret’s investigations using church registers, newspaper records and reading various wills enabled her to include dates and anecdotes about the family and general burial practices going back to the eighteen century.  Margaret has also logged her findings with the Shrivenham Heritage Society which can be found on their website.