Post by UKarchaeology on Jan 29, 2016 17:25:59 GMT
For centuries historians have known the peculiar story of Bristol Cathedral's nave, but now it's been backed up by the first archaeological dig inside the cathedral for 150 years. David Clensy reports
I FIND Dr Kevin Blockley in Bristol Cathedral's north transept, kneeling in the shadow of the great wooden Bishop's throne. His head is lost inside a hole in the floor where a few of the Victorian flagstones have been lifted.
The trowel in his hand is brushing gently at a small stone vault that has been revealed beneath the red-brown earth.
At just a metre in length, it is clearly the grave of a child, but which young soul found his or her final resting place in this prestigious spot, a few yards from the high altar, is likely to forever remain a mystery.
Kevin, the cathedral archaeologist, has already been around each of the memorial plaques on the walls, and found references to nobody under the age of 30.
He's content to know it is the grave of an 18th century child, and doesn't see any benefit to disturbing the infant's eternal slumbers in order to find a coffin plate.
"We'll record the fact that it's here, and rebury the vault unopened," he explains.
For Kevin, of much greater significance is the patch of soil-stained stonework beside the grave, for it marks the base of one of the original pillars of the Norman abbey.
It's one of the most interesting finds during the last three weeks' work within the cathedral – the first full archaeological dig at the site since the current nave was built in the 1860s.
"The cathedral is in the very early stages of looking at whether it might be possible to have an under-floor heating system installed," Kevin explains. "But the first thing is to ensure that the work would not disturb any significant archaeology. There would have to be enough space down there to take the pipes.
"We always knew we would find burial vaults of course," he adds. "After all, this has been a place of worship for a thousand years."
Kevin and his team have been able to ascertain that there would space for the pipes to be installed – working around the existing burials without disturbing them.
But Kevin has used the opportunity of having rare access to the ground beneath the cathedral via 10 trenches at points around the building, in order to uncover physical evidence for the first time of the abbey's medieval nave.
"We have always known from the records that there was a medieval nave, dating back to the 1100s," Kevin explains. "But we had no proof of exactly where it stood."
Now, thanks to a few remnants of the medieval wall lines found within the trenches, the team can confirm that the medieval nave existed – slightly smaller, and sitting just within the space taken by the Victorian nave that stands today.
The story of Bristol Cathedral's nave is an intriguing tale. Ambitious to grow the abbey into a larger, more auspicious building, the 16th century monks had the Norman nave taken down and plans drawn up for a grand new nave to be constructed.
Unfortunately they hadn't planned on Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries. As a result, when the abbey was snatched from the Augustinian community by the new state Anglican church and rebranded as a cathedral in 1542, it no longer had a nave – just a few semi-rebuilt walls, which reached only to window sill height.
Full story: www.bristolpost.co.uk/Archaeologists-uncover-surprising-secret-Bristol/story-28593821-detail/story.html#ixzz3yegLxxXg