SEX73804 - Wenden Parva church: Excavations 2nd to 6th September 2019

While the excavation of WAMVIC 19 TR1 has not irrefutably proven the existence and location of Wenden Parva church (demolished in 1662), the excavation of TR1 has borne out the earlier evidence of the resistivity survey in identifying a curvilinear stone foundation consistent with the overall interpretation that the resistivity survey had identified the location of the missing church of Wenden Parva.The limited evidence available from this evaluation and the earlier survey suggests Wenden Parva church stood as a simple arrangement of nave and apsidal chancel. Its apsidal wall stood it seems on flint foundations of 1.38m width bedded into a thin chalk mortar layer. These foundations are it seems preserved as a base layer only at a depth of approximately 0.5m below the present ground surface. Consequently on stylistic grounds and with the historical evidence for a chapel in its twinned manor of Eynesworth/Chardwell dating to the 12th century, the working hypothesis remains that a stone church at Wenden Parva was perhaps constructed sometime between 950 and 1150.