They were part of the lord’s estate, expressions of his status and piety, places where he and those connected to him could be baptized, married, and buried.

Burial inside or immediately adjacent to a private church, as distinct from the common churchyard, was a mark of social status.

The closer to the altar, the higher the status.

Kings and great nobles were buried before the high altar.

Lesser nobility were buried in subsidiary chapels or in the nave.

Even being in the churchyard of a private church, rather than in the common burial ground, suggested a connection to the lord’s household.

The fact that Conquest Man was buried in the church of one of William’s knights, a man who had fought at Hastings and been rewarded with English land and the churches that came with it, suggests that Conquest Man had some kind of recognized relationship with that lord.