Roman coffin burials in the Mill House area, Great Chesterford (EHER 16398)

Three stone coffins were found in 1785 by some labourers digging gravel in the garden of the Mill House. Source <1> describes four coffins whilst source <3> describes just three coffins, two of which were circular at the head with square feet and the third square at the head and circular at the feet. The coffins contained human remains which had been 'covered with a composition which 'resembled the plaster of Paris''. Also found at the site were coins of Claudius and later emperors, Roman pottery and mortar.

In 1785 four stone coffins, coins of Claudius and late emperors were noted by Edward King as found close to the present mill. Much pottery lies in the garden, also mortar and a few coins of various dates. <1> (NB originally part of EHER 4941). See also <2>. Thomas Walford informed Richard Gough in 1787, that in 1785 three stone coffins were found 0.6m below the surface by some labourers digging gravel in the garden of the Mill House. They were roughly hewn from stone, 6 feet 8 inches (2.03m) long, 2 feet 6 inches (0.75m) wide at the head and 1 foot 6 inches (0.45m) wide at the foot. The lids extended beyond the coffins by 6 or 7 inches (0.15–0.17m) on each side. Two of the coffins were circular at the head and square at the feet, the other was square at the head and circular at the feet. A piece of lead 2 feet by 1 foot 3 inches (0.6 x 0.37m) was found on one of the coffins, but there was no inscription of any kind. The bodies within the coffin had been covered with a composition which ‘resembled the plaster of Paris’, and the skeletons were encrusted with this material. The present occupant of Mill House (Edward King) noted the finding of coins of Claudius and of the later emperors close to the mill. Roman pottery was noted within the mill garden; mortar and a few coins of various dates were also found. <3> See also EHER 83311 for a record of an inhumation burial of the same date found at Mill House. Note: The gazetteer (No. 108) in source <3> attributes two more finds to this record, a Roman tessellated pavement and a Jupiter column base. These have been documented in their own records, EHER 83267 and EHER 83268.