CONCLUSIONS

Concerning the earlier church
Sadly, no evidence was found to prove the existence of an earlier building. This, of course, does not mean that no building existed; it means only that it did not exist in the excavated area. Indeed, within the graveyard a small building could be buried and easily remain undetected. At present, however, there are no plans to investigate further.

Concerning the bell moulding
Although the excavators reported finding a small amount of bell mould fragment and copper alloy slag were in Trench 1, they failed to give details, thus we can not know the size of the bell being cast, nor the feasibility of casting it on-site. They did, however, state that the "bell mould pit" did not appear to have a lining of any sort. It seems likely, therefore, that any casting was done elsewhere and this pit contained only the waste material.

Concerning the extension
The extension to the church is called The Oak Room and was dedicated by the Right Reverend Keith Sutton, Bishop of Lichfield on 22 October 2000.

Burials without coffins
Unfortunately the excavators of St Bartholomew's graveyard did not make clear the dates of the sans coffin burials. However, there are two likely reasons for this type of burial:
First. If they were before the sixteenth century it was usual for the poor (who could not afford a coffin) to be buried in a shroud only. The corpse was carried from the home to the church or graveyard in The Parish Coffin . Once at the graveside, and all formalities over, the corpse was taken out and buried. This coffin was owned by the Parish, and after use would be returned to storage for use on another occasion. The Parish Coffin fell from use during the seventeenth century mainly due to plague when deaths were so frequent there was no time for it to be used.
If the remains were later, the second possible reason is that they were victims of the Bilston Cholera Epidemic of 1832, although the records show they were buried at St Leonard’s church, Bilston.

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