The Burial Of Emmeline Lugard
Celia explains the discovery of a mysterious 19th-century burial in Whitstable
During installation works at the old church of St Alphege, Seasalter, in 2018, part of a floor slab in the north-west corner of the former chancel had to be removed. This revealed the head end of a large lead coffin, and excavation of the loose soil from either side of the coffin exposed the full extent of its western end. Resting on a series of equally spaced iron support struts, this was clearly the uppermost interment in a series of
‘stacked’ coffined burials beneath the church floor.
Although works were only extensive enough to reveal one end of the coffin, this was sufficient to display the coffin’s construction.
Several pieces of heavily decomposed timber planking were recovered, which had clearly been part of the timber outer shell into which the lead coffin would have been placed.
The timber shell originally possessed very heavy ornate gothic-style fittings typical of the period, which were identified lying in the earth by the coffin side. Although very little of the timber outer-shell survived, there were two depositum plates on which were written the name of the deceased. One would originally have been on the outer coffin shell and the other placed on the inner shell. Both of the plates still lay in position across the coffin’s upper surface, and together they announced the burial of “Emmeline Elizabeth Lugard, born 26th Sept 1849, Died 7th June 1887”.
Interestingly, there was no formal memorial for Emmeline within the chancel, although there were plenty for other family members.
The information on the depositum plates enabled us to not only identify the burial but to carry out research into Emmeline’s life as well as the circumstances of her death, which proved to be quite a story in itself.