5 Lost Archbishops of Canterbury Discovered in London

The Archbishops date back as far as the 1600s and were discovered by workmen at Lambeth Palace by accident , the men were working on the paving at the site when they accidentally cut a hole in the floor and noticed a void beneath , curious to see what lay beneath they taped a phone to a stick and lowered it into the hole where the discovered 30 lead coffins in a vault which had lain there undisturbed for centuries.

Following the discovery an excavation took place and the coffins of the 5 Lost Archbishops of Canterbury were discovered among the others , there was a clue left as to their status along with their name plates...

Two coffins had nameplates, which belonged to Richard Bancroft (archbishop from 1604 to 1610), John Moore (archbishop from 1783 to 1805); his wife, Catherine Moore, has a coffin plate, too.
Also identified from his coffin plate is John Bettesworth (1677-1751), the Dean of Arches, the judge who sits at the ecclesiastical court of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
St Mary-at-Lambeth’s records have since revealed that a further three archbishops were probably buried in the secret vault: Frederick Cornwallis (archbishop from 1768 to 1783), Matthew Hutton (archbishop from 1757 to 1758) and Thomas Tenison (archbishop from 1695 to 1715). A sixth, Thomas Secker (archbishop from 1758 to 1768), had his viscera buried in a canister in the churchyard.

The discovery will be available for visitors to Lambeth Palace to glimpse when it reopens next month.

Since the discovery, a square manhole has been let into the chancel floor, with a glazed panel that will offer a glimpse of the steps leading down to the vault. The coffins – which have been left exactly where they were discovered will be out of bounds, for good reason.
www.telegraph.co.uk...

What an amazing find! Thank you!

I love this kind of stuff! Thank you for bringing it to our attention!
S&F

Interesting. I really hope that they continue to leave them alone.

I understand the urge to study them, to learn about their lives etc... Just as with any archaeological dig. But I'm always just a touch, more than a touch actually, uncomfortable with it.

Disturbing the dead just isn't right.

But right along with that discomfort is rampant curiosity...because I am an inveterate snoop.

originally posted by: seagull
Interesting. I really hope that they continue to leave them alone.

I understand the urge to study them, to learn about their lives etc... Just as with any archaeological dig. But I'm always just a touch, more than a touch actually, uncomfortable with it.

Disturbing the dead just isn't right.

But right along with that discomfort is rampant curiosity...because I am an inveterate snoop.

I guess Im a weirdo.. disturbing the dead sounds wonderful to me. Id have made a career out of it.. archaeology, not grave robbing.. but they make nothing for money. LOL! Hey, I kinda HOPE Im disturbed after a coupla centuries. If I die before you, I give you full permission to disturb me. Never know what Ill be buried with. Be curious.. go through my pockets!

a reply to: Advantage



OK, I will, if ever I disturb your rest, check the pockets.

Oh, I would have loved to be an archaeologist...may still return to school to pursue that, however unlikely, I'm going to be semi-retired in the next few years so I'll have the time.

As long as it's done in a respectful manner, my issues with disturbing are much less than my curiosity.

I wonder why his viscera were buried in the courtyard away from the others?

a reply to: Lithicalus

The vault used to lie beneath an alter in what was probably a chapel but palaces tended to be remodeled to suit the whims of the owners of the time.

It just seems strange to me that these "men of stature" were just tossed aside and forgotten.....just like a lot of our past seems lost to a point of disconnect. Strange indeed......

Thanks for the link! I saw the headline earlier on my Facebook news feed and forgot to check it out.

S&F!

My gawd...I can't wait for 500 years to pass so I can get my grave robbed too. So much for eternal peace....If you ever thought there was such a thing. They bury us because we rot, but they dig us up because we try to take our riches with us.

Just cremate me and give me to the wind.

Awww how nice :-)

This is fascinating, even people of this high a status had been lost to history,t hen stumbled on centuries later. Just surreal. Kind of a reminder of how unimportant most people ARE to history anyway, but still surreal either way.

I plan to be cremated, but in the event something goes pear-shaped and I'm buried like a dog's bone,I hope someone does dig me up centuries or millennia later. I'd love to have my last hurrah in existence as having helped piece an era's history together for future people, even if it's just a snippet of commoner life (and I'm serious, not sarcastic. I'll be dead & not giving a s# about my mineral remains)

That is pretty cool, but I wonder how you "accidentally" cut a 6" diameter hole in a floor?

a reply to: tinner07


Probably jack hammered through when they were lifting and re laying the old stone floor.

a reply to: WeDemBoyz

My gawd...I can't wait for 500 years to pass so I can get my grave robbed too.

No robbery , the coffins were left as they were found and treated with the respect they deserve.

2 things. No. 1 ( & I'm already cringing at my own stupido) why the lead coffins ?

No. 2 ~ Advantage..... I love your sense of humour fellow member.... Be curious.. go through my pockets! has resulted in me having the most unobstructed sinuses for a long time....such was the coffee larfed out my nostrils upon reading it. Cheers



Oh how rude.... a big No. 3 to you vortex for bringing in a awesome find for us to read about.

a reply to: fotsyfots

People used to use lead for everything, Romans used lead casks to store wine in, thus poisoning the wine...

Lead is a soft metal, easy to work.

www.lead.org.au...

"There were recordings of Roman wine being banned by German tribes because of the sickness which resulted. Surprisingly, many doctors of that period prescribed preparations of mercury or litharge itself to cure colic! On and off over the next centuries liquor would continue to be a source of lead exposure. In 1763, a physician at the court of King George III, discovering that lead fittings used to press cider caused an outbreak of colic. The great gout epidemics of the eighteenth century in England were traced to the popular port wines from Portugal which were heavily leaded (in 1825, 21 million liters of port was consumed in England). Poorly glazed pottery used to store beers and wines resulted in chronic colic outbreaks in Germany when the lead leached out into the brew."

Like using asbestosis for insulation.

This is neat and intriguing. Thanks

originally posted by: seagull

Disturbing the dead just isn't right.

You can't disturb the dead: they're dead.