Bramcote Old Church

Churchyard

View of the church road
from Main Street

Plan of the churchyard

There is a small churchyard with a number of gravestones. On plan the area is roughly square, 0.1 ha in extent, with the church site and remaining tower positioned roughly centrally. On the east and north sides are roads with stone retaining walls lower than the churchyard; the entrance gates are at the north-east corner. The boundary on the south side is a high brick wall, and to the west a hedge.

The site was fully surveyed in 2007 and all 60 gravestones were recorded and cross-referenced with entries in the Bramcote parish registers.

One of the gravestones was to the Rev Thomas Wilkinson, a vicar of Bramcote, who died in 1841, aged 76.

Aislabie tombs

Burton tombs

There are six chest tombs within the grounds - four at the rear of the tower and two by the side boundary wall. They succumbed to subsidence, erosion and vandalism. In 2006 the tombs were taken apart, new stone plinths constructed and the stone panels put back together to form a solid structure.

The four tombs at the rear of the tower belong to various members of the Aislabie family who died between 1807 and 1863. The two tombs near the boundary wall belong to Isaac and Elizabeth Burton who died in 1796 and 1793 respectively.

All six tombs are Grade II listed.

Surveys of the grounds were undertaken in 2007 and 2009 under the guidance of members of the Archaeology Department of Nottinghamshire County Council to try to establish the footprint of the nave and chancel of the original church and also to determine where gravestones may be hidden underground. All the gravestones within the site are in a horizontal position and it is not known when, why or by whom, they were moved from their vertical position.

A final plan of the site was constructed, and all gravestones found were numbered, recorded and photographed.