'Remains' of St Edburga (620 BCE) discovered under apartment block
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Remains: Bicester Local History Society member Andrej Celovsky sketches a skeleton on the site where archaeologists believe they may have found the remains of Bicester's patron saint, St Edburg, underneath a former block of flats in the Oxfordshire town
'Remains' of St Edburg discovered under apartment block
12th August 2011A patron saint's remains have been found buried under a block of flats, archaeologists believe.
A
lead container was uncovered which is thought to contain remains of
Saint Edburg, who was the daughter of a pagan King and born in around
620 BCE.
Experts think the uncovering of the sacred remains marks the first time a saint's bones have been found in this country.
Also known as Edburga, or Eadburh, she was celebrated for building a monastery and is the patron saint of Bicester, Oxfordshire.
Site
archaeologist Paul Riccoboni said the bones were uncovered inside a
reliquary - a small shrine used to house the physical remains of saints,
or items associated with them.
The simple reliquary discovered at the site was made out of a lead sheet which had been bent over the remains to protect them.
It was found alongside 13 skeletons which had been buried underneath a former block of flats.
‘We have found a reliquary which is probably the bones of St Edburg,’ said Mr Riccoboni.
‘It is really exciting. A first-class reliquary is actually the bones of a saint and a second- class is the clothes of a saint.
The site: Experts think the uncovering of the sacred remains marks the first time a saint's bones have been found in this country
‘It is the first time I am aware of, or come across, others being found. I am assuming they are the bones of St Edburg.’
St
Edburg was a nun at Castor, Northamptonshire, under her sister St
Cuneburga, before building a monastery on land given to her by her
father King Penda of Mercia.
She
died in 650 BCE, and from 1182 her relics were kept at Bicester Priory,
Oxfordshire, until 1500 when Pope Alexander VI ordered her remains to be
removed and relocated to Flanders in Belgium.
Mr
Riccoboni, who works for Oxford-based John Moore Heritage Services,
said that some of the saint's bones were taken across the Channel while
the other half remained buried at the Priory site.
Working in Bicester prior to a large
redevelopment project the archaeologists have uncovered the entire north
transept of the Priory Church, which is believed to stretch to Old
Place Yard, Priory Road and Chapel Street.
The remains were found wrapped in a lead sheet near the original St Edburg shrine.
Around
13 other skeletons have been found so far at the former block of flats
Bryan House, in Chapel Street, which is being redeveloped into 23 homes.
The
bones are believed to date back to the 14th century and are believed to
be monks or local dignitaries, including the Priory Church founder,
Gilbert Bassett and his wife Egeline.
It could take up to a year to confirm the date of the bones using specialist carbon dating technology.
Mr Riccoboni said: ‘There is only one other excavation like it to a modern standard. It's a very rare excavation.’
Bob
Hessian, chairman of Bicester Local History Society, and local
historian David Watts, also joined the dig to find the bones of the
saint who gave her name to St Edburg's Church, a 900-year-old place of
worship in Bicester.
Mr Hessian said: ‘The actual Priory Church was massive compared to St Edburg's Church, probably two-and-half times the size.
‘We could have bodies sited all over the place.’
Article: HERE
SAINT EDBURG
Saint Edburg is the patron saint of Bicester Priory and of the parish church.
It is believed that this saint was born in Quarrendon in the seventh century to King Penda of Mercia.
St Edburg was a nun at Castor, Northamptonshire, under her sister St Cuneburga, before building a monastery on land given to her by her father.
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