Burials Return To Anglo Saxon Church

English Heritage Chief Executive Simon Thurley Studying an Anglo Saxon Skelton A Service is taking place to mark the return of 3,000 skeletons to St Peter’s, Barton-upon-Humber, North Lincolnshire, in an English Heritage pilot project with the Church of England.

The language of Anglo-Saxon England will be heard once again in St Peter’s Church, Barton-upon-Humber, North Lincolnshire, as 3,000 burials are re-dedicated within its ancient 11th century walls.

The skeletons - dating from the Anglo-Saxon period up to the mid-19th century - were unearthed at the church between 1978 and 1984 during excavations to shed light on its origins. Since then they have been used by researchers to probe crippling diseases such as arthritis, while helping experts shed new light on the past lives of our ancestors.

Now English Heritage has fulfilled its long-standing pledge to return the burials to St Peter’s, where they have been housed in a specially built ossuary, or bones repository, in a pilot project with the Church of England.

To mark the return, a special re-dedication service will be held on Friday 7 March led by the Reverend David Rowett, based in part on the Eucharist in the first English prayer book of 1549, a medieval rite probably familiar to most of the dead at Barton.

However, recognising the unique nature of the Barton burials, the Lord’s Prayer will be said in Anglo-Saxon – the original form of English - as a mark of respect to the earliest remains, which predate the Norman Conquest, as well as in Latin and Prayer Book English.

Father David, an admirer of Anglo-Saxon culture and language, said: “This will be a unique occasion, fully respecting the fact that the bones represent the mortal remains of the past inhabitants of Barton. The town is a small place with a real continuity to its population, so these are our ancestors who are returning home. It will be the first time in many centuries that this magnificent building has heard the language of those who first built it and worshipped here over 1,000 years ago.”

St Peter’s Church, Barton-upon-Humber, North Lincolnshire St Peter’s retains its magnificent Anglo Saxon tower and Baptistery, the only surviving example of its kind in the UK.   Last year Simon Thurley, English Heritage Chief Executive, unveiled a £600,000 conservation, repair and interpretation project at the site, which also created new visitor facilities and paved the way for the bones’ return. The project was undertaken by the South Humber Collection (formerly the South Humber Bank Heritage Tourism Initiative) and backed by Yorkshire Forward.

Kevin Booth, Senior Curator at English Heritage, explained: “Storing the burials in the ossuary means they will be near to their original resting place.  But it will also permit continued access to one of Europe’s most important collections of bones by scientists and scholars.  We have never forgotten that the remains were once people and have always treated them with the utmost respect.  The rededication ceremony is a fitting way to celebrate their return.”