Post-medieval Oxford - Oxford City Council

sample of 14 were fully or partly excavated. They were predominantly aligned southwest
to north-east. There was also evidence for a collective burial pit containing
several individuals possibly cross stacked. The cemetery was not of the lowest social
status as some burials were in coffins, evident as stains and/or rows of nails.
Nevertheless, coffin fittings were simple, limited to grip handles on plain plates. There
were only two decorated examples and the corroded remains of one coffin plate. An
osteological assessment indicated that the majority were adult males with some
showing evidence of injury and infection. The charnel bones demonstrated greater
variety, including women and children and evidence of medical interventions such as
sawn limbs and a craniotomy (Braybrooke 2009b). A number of burials were also
encountered during a watching brief undertaken during piling preparation work at the
site in 2010, and these were left in situ (Braybrooke 2011: 4)
Social welfare – the poor
The first legislature for the organised provision of the poor was passed in 1601 and
made parishes legally responsible for caring for their poor. This was followed in the
18 th and 19 th centuries by a series of laws that attempted to cater for the poor
culminating in the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 which grouped neighbouring
parishes into larger poor law unions, each with their own workhouse. In Oxford, early
provisions for the poor were limited. In the 17 th and 18 th centuries, the city frequently
paid individuals to employ the poor. Almshouses were also common in the medieval
and post-medieval city although the needs met by these houses were limited.
Early workhouses
A number of locations around the city have been used to house the poor including a
poor house on the east side of St Giles, just beyond the Northgate, and one which is
likely to have been located adjacent to the Bocardo in 1631, which continued in use
until 1772 (VCH iv: 344). With the closure of the prison, the poorhouse was moved to
George Street near the Gloucester Green prison until 1789. Another poorhouse was
located just to the north of Gloucester Green in the former buildings of the Whitefriars
in the mid-18 th century before it was replaced by the Wellington Square workhouse
(VCH iv: 346). Additional poorhouses have been established using existing buildings
given as charitable donations including Holywell Manor and sites in the parishes of St
Peter le Bailey, St Mary Magdalen and a joint workhouse for the parishes of St Mary
the Virgin, All Saints and St Martins (Workhouses, online resource).
Wellington Square Workhouse
In 1771, 11 parishes were incorporated by a local Act of Parliament to better provide
for the poor and a site for a new workhouse was found on a five-acre area to the
north of the city in the parish of St Mary Magdalen (now Wellington Square). Finished
in 1772, the two-storey workhouse was designed by J. Gwynn and continued to
operate until 1864 when a new site was opened in Cowley. Intended for 200 inmates,
the buildings were usually overcrowded and the facilities criticised (VCH iv). Those
parishes not included in the Oxford Incorporation were required to make their own
arrangements. St Giles’ parish, for example, leased a property to house the poor until
1824 when a new workhouse was erected on Mayfield Road, Summertown.
A watching brief in 1983 failed to identify any significant remains of the structure
although the evidence suggested the area was used for plough land until around
1675 when it was quarried (UAD 480). In 1994 salvage excavations in the garden of
Rewley House recorded a significant number of burials that probably related to the
18 th century workhouse. The excavations revealed seven layers of burials within two
brick vaults within the area of the workhouse cemetery as illustrated on Davis’ map of
1789 (UAD 513; Boyle 1994). Associated artefactual material included burial
paraphernalia such as coffin handles, nails and pins and some evidence for shrouds,
OXFORD ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESOURCE ASSESSMENT- POST MEDIEVAL
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