12th Century Mass Grave Found in Burial Shaft at Leicester Cathedral

Just last month, after the fanfare of the inauguration of a new visitors recreational area at historic Leicester Cathedral, a rather gruesome discovery emerged from gardens located just a few meters away. A narrow vertical shaft with the remains of 123 men, women, and children was uncovered, during ongoing excavations that have been continuing on Cathedral grounds for quite some time.

 

This is one of the largest ancient burials ever found in the UK, and the biggest that has ever been recovered in the vicinity of Leicester Cathedral, where excavations have unearthed many other gravesites over the years. This particular mass grave has been dated to the 12th century, and as of now the cause of death of all these ancient inhabitants of Leicester remains unknown.

Starvation and Pestilence: Indeed the Dark Ages!

When the archaeologists first found the shaft with all the bodies inside, their first thought was that some kind of ancient massacre had occurred. But after completing their initial examination of the skeletal remains, they could find no evidence of wounds or other signs of damage that might indicate mass murder.

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“Their bones show no signs of violence – which leaves us with two alternative reasons for these deaths: starvation or pestilence,” said Mathew Morris, project officer at Leicester University’s archaeological services, in an interview published by The Guardian. “It looks as if successive cartloads of bodies were brought to the shaft and then dropped into it, one load on top of another in avery short space of time. In terms of numbers, the people put in there probably represented about 5% of the town’s population.”

Archaeologist unearths ancient tomb in Leicester Cathedral in 2022. (University of Leicester Archaeological Services).

The venerated Anglo-Saxon Chronicles talk a lot about pestilence and fevers, death, famine, hunger that occurred in cycles through England – from the mid-10th century onwards through the mid-12th century – making this a truly miserable 200 year period in English history. Many historians have termed this period ‘The Dark Ages,’ though this is hotly contested terminology. Nevertheless the burials fit in with this time frame, and serve as physical proof of medieval suffering, explained Morris.

The first supposition was that this was remnants of the bubonic plague, or ‘Black Death’ that devasted Europe through the 1300s, specifically England from 1348 onwards, and killed anywhere between a third and a half of the population.

“We initially thought this was going to be the first evidence of the Black Death arriving in Leicester,” Morris explained. “Then the team got the results of radiocarbon dating tests of bones from the pit. These showed that the bodies had been dumped there almost 150 years earlier, around the beginning of the 12th century. That was surprising. We have no idea, at present, what might have triggered such a massive cause of death. As far as we know, the bubonic plague did not reach our shores until 1348. So, what was the cause of the mass deaths that occurred then?”

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Exterior of Leicester Cathedral. (Peter from Lincoln, UK/CC BY 2.0).

Was the explanation what was referenced in the Anglo-Saxon chronicles? Perhaps not, Morris believes. There are certain burial signs resembling the emergency measures taken during the present-day COVID crisis, and his team has sent samples from the bodies in the pit, to geneticists at the Francis Crick Institute in London to find answers, reports The Metro.

Was it viruses, bacteria, or parasites that triggered the blight that struck Leicester? This is the question that Morris and his colleagues hope to answer.

Morris was quick to add that there seemed to be some order to the burials, and less panic than might have been expected if a disease outbreak were occurring. Clearly, someone in a cart went around and systematically ensured that the bodies were collected and disposed of. The bodies were buried in a shroud, with their limbs tied up, and some ceremony was likely performed before the municipal authorities stepped in – all in all, it seems the victims were given a dignified burial.

A Mass Burial Ground with a Long History

The current excavations at Leicester Cathedral are connected to the construction of a new heritage learning center on cathedral grounds, where the body of the medieval king Richard III was moved more than a decade ago, causing a manifold rise in visitors. The planned construction was set in place to accommodate this influx, and was supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. 

Tomb of Richard III, moved to Leicester Cathedral in 2015. (Diamond Geezer/CC BY-NC-ND).

Ranging across the site, Morris and his colleagues have so far unearthed the remains of a whopping 1,237 men, women and children! The burials ranged from the 19th century to the early 11th century.

“It’s a continuous sequence of 850 years of burials from a single population from a single place, and you don’t get that very often. It has generated an enormous amount of archaeology,” he stated.

Even with this large number of burials, the vertical shaft that contained the bodies of 123 men, women and children still stands out, for its sheer scale and for the likely medical emergency that wiped out five percent of Leicester’s population more than 800 years ago. Mass graves like this are always a shocking find, regardless of how many centuries may have passed since the tragic story behind them occurred.

Top image: The interior gardens at Leicester Cathedral. Source: John Sutton/Geograph Britain and Ireland/CC BY 2.0.

By Sahir Pandey