Yet Another King May Be Coming To Light

They always say that the trouble with the No 37 bus is that you wait for ages for one to turn up, and then two come along at the same time. It looks as though the same is happening with historic kings of England, where we have recently had the high profile discovery of the remains of King Richard III in a Leicester car park, as well as exploratory works concerning the possible location of the grave of Alfred The Great in Winchester.

Now Lincolnshire is trying to get in on the act, with the discovery of  “exciting” remains at Lincoln Castle. It is being suggested that a skeleton found in Lincoln Castle could well belong to a Saxon king or bishop, according to archaeologists.

The skeleton has been discovered in a stone sarcophagus that is thought to date from about AD900., and although it has yet to be opened, an endoscopy has shown that the remains are buried alongside other objects - possibly gold. The       sarcophagus is buried approximately 3m (9ft) underground.

Trying not to get over excited, programme manager Mary Powell, of Lincoln Castle Revealed, said: "We think it's somebody terribly important - possibly a bishop or a Saxon king."

"At the moment, we can see the side of the coffin, but not the lid," Ms Powell added. It's going to be incredibly challenging to get it out, so we are being very careful.  There is a danger it could disintegrate because of the change in environmental conditions. When we do finally lift the lid, the plan is to record what's inside immediately, in case it starts to disintegrate."

She revealed that it was to be hoped that there would be some detail on the lid of the sarcophagus which might give a clue as to who the inhabitant was. "We know so little about the Saxon period and Saxon coffins are very rare," she said. "We are all excited about lifting the lid and seeing who is in there and what is buried with him."

There you are .... excited, but not over excited!

The limestone sarcophagus was discovered, with eight other skeletons, by a Saxon church, all of them in wooden coffins, one of them having a woollen shroud. DNA examinations are being carried out, with a possible digital reconstruction of the skeleton being another option.

Ms Powell said they were considering the possibility of a connection with an 8th Century king of Lindsey named Blaecca. The discovery of two Roman town houses was another result of the dig, along with a skeleton of a baby

The £19.9m Lincoln Castle Revealed project is aimed at creating a visitor attraction at the venue, including an underground vault in which to display Lincoln's Magna Carta. Many of the finds will go on display when the project is completed in 2015.

"Nobody really expected to discover as much as we have," said Ms Powell. "We don't think one room is going to be big enough. We may need to find a bit of extra space."

                 http://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/lincoln-castle-revealed/100256.article