Quizzes & Puzzles3 mins ago
Today's 'much Ado About Nothing'
OTT fuss about some 500+ year old bones
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"This has probably been asked in the past but I still don't understand how anyone could have known where to look for the body and how did they know anyway because it is believed that he was just thrown into a ditch 500 years ago.
And even more incredibly it was under the very place in the car park where they made the first excavation."
It's the known site of a medieval priory, demolished during the dissolution of the monasteries. Archaeologists know from excavations of other similar buildings and from old documents approximately how the priory would have been laid out and what orientation it would have been in. There is also documentary evidence that Richard was buried by the friars of the monastery in the choir of the building. Local myth had it that his bones had been dug up during the dissolution and thrown into the river.
Beyond that, comparatively little was known. A large house was built on the priory site and there are drawings and mentions in old writings of a tombstone in the garden that said it was that of Richard III. Later on a police station/courthouse was built on the site which eventually became the social services offices and their staff car park.
From there it would have been a matter of geophysics and carefully calculated mapping to work out where would be the most fruitful places to dig - in this case the choir.
Remember, they weren't specifically looking for bodies at all. What they were trying to get was a better idea of the layout of the priory. The lead archaologist said they'd be surprised but pleased if they found bodies. That they found one so soon after starting the dig was lucky. That it turned out to be Richard was the stuff of dreams and not expected at all.
And even more incredibly it was under the very place in the car park where they made the first excavation."
It's the known site of a medieval priory, demolished during the dissolution of the monasteries. Archaeologists know from excavations of other similar buildings and from old documents approximately how the priory would have been laid out and what orientation it would have been in. There is also documentary evidence that Richard was buried by the friars of the monastery in the choir of the building. Local myth had it that his bones had been dug up during the dissolution and thrown into the river.
Beyond that, comparatively little was known. A large house was built on the priory site and there are drawings and mentions in old writings of a tombstone in the garden that said it was that of Richard III. Later on a police station/courthouse was built on the site which eventually became the social services offices and their staff car park.
From there it would have been a matter of geophysics and carefully calculated mapping to work out where would be the most fruitful places to dig - in this case the choir.
Remember, they weren't specifically looking for bodies at all. What they were trying to get was a better idea of the layout of the priory. The lead archaologist said they'd be surprised but pleased if they found bodies. That they found one so soon after starting the dig was lucky. That it turned out to be Richard was the stuff of dreams and not expected at all.
See my answer above.
The friary (not a church as such) was demolished by Henry VIII in 1538 and the stone robbed out. It then had a mansion house and, after that, a school built on it. The existing building was built in 1936.
The burial site was not in a crypt but directly beneath the floor of the choir - just before where the altar would have been - a similar place, in fact. to where Richard will be buried in the cathedral on Thursday.
The friary (not a church as such) was demolished by Henry VIII in 1538 and the stone robbed out. It then had a mansion house and, after that, a school built on it. The existing building was built in 1936.
The burial site was not in a crypt but directly beneath the floor of the choir - just before where the altar would have been - a similar place, in fact. to where Richard will be buried in the cathedral on Thursday.
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