Pictures from the Redgrave church vault

A  400kg ledger stone was temporarily lifted out to in order to replace its supports which had rotted.  This gave access via a tunnel to a vault under the vestry containing 12 adult coffins and 5 childrens coffins dating from Sir John Holt in 1710. The last coffin to be placed in the vault was that of George St Vincent Wilson in 1852.  They are the ancestral line of the Holts which leads on to the Wilsons and to the present day Holt Wilsons.

A multi-discipline team, led by Dr Julian Litten FSA has researched and recorded the vault and its occupants and made some new discoveries on the history of the vestry and its vault.  

The vestry is now known to have been constructed in the early 17th century as a Bacon family mausoleum and pew space opening out onto the chancel with a vault built symmetrically within its foundations.

The chequered floor with the lozenge, now at the west end of the nave north aisle, is Nicholas Stone's "lost" monument to Philippa Bacon, and was formerly in the Bacon Pew. When Lord Chief Justice Holt purchased the manor in 1702 he appropriated the vault for his own use and moved the Bacon coffins to the west end of the nave north aisle. The installation of the Holt monument in 1713/14 led to the lowering of the chancel floor and the bricking-up of the opening from the Pew into the chancel.  The translation of the Nicholas Stone monument to Philippa Bacon and the other Bacon memorials to the west end of the nave north aisle took place in 1734/5 when the Pew was converted into a vestry.

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