Extraordinary Discovery of 12th Century Abbot's Grave: 2012 Technology Could Unmask his Identity

The Daily Mail (UK) ^ | 4/18/12 | Paul Harris

[marshmallow]

Carbon dating and pathology to be used on skeleton
Abbot reckoned to be 'portly' because of curvature of the spine
Cistercian monastery supposedly 'haunted' by several ghosts

For something like seven centuries he had lain undisturbed.

He – or at least his remains – survived Henry VIII’s destruction of his abbey in 1537, eluded the grave-robbers that followed, and avoided discovery by Victorian archaeologists.

Even deep excavations and the underpinning of the crumbling building in the 1930s failed to unearth him.

But the abbot who headed Britain’s second richest and most powerful Cistercian monastery may soon be unmasked – along with the identity, perhaps, of one of the site’s ghosts.

Two years after his final resting place was uncovered beneath the ruins of Furness Abbey, his secrets – and the treasures he took to his grave – are being scrutinised by 21st century technology and expertise.

With the wonders of carbon dating and modern pathological and archaeological knowledge, specialists are confident they can fill a missing chapter in the history of the Lake District Abbey that inspired Wordsworth and Turner.

The skeleton of a portly figure was discovered almost by fluke when emergency repairs had to be made to the abbey at Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria.

Cracks had appeared in the ‘mouldered walls’ that featured in Wordsworth’s ‘At Furness Abbey’ verse from his 1805 Prelude, and in some of JWM Turner’s etchings.

[Perdogg]

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[SunkenCiv]

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[mass55th]

Wow! That skeleton is extremely well-preserved.

[Mmogamer]

And his crozier is to.

[ApplegateRanch]

The skeleton of a portly figure was discovered almost by fluke when emergency repairs had to be made to the abbey at Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria.

From the look of it, those "emergency repairs" are a few centuries late in coming. Had to wait for government funding, perhaps?

[Docbarleypop]

is that a 3 iron he is holding? My guess he is Scottish then

[colorado tanker]

There is more of the Abbey left than the picture implies. It's in the Lake District, which is a very lovely part of England.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks colorado tanker.

[Oratam]

It was on a trip this past summer to the Lake District that I learned about the industrial revolution wrought by the Cistercians in England. Fascinating.