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| Archaeologists scan Reading garden for bones of King Henry I | Archaeologists scan Reading garden for bones of King Henry I |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The first encouraging bleeps have been heard in Fr John O’Shea’s back garden in Reading, as a radar team begins the search for underground structures that could reveal the grave of another lost king: Henry I, fourth son of William the Conqueror. | The first encouraging bleeps have been heard in Fr John O’Shea’s back garden in Reading, as a radar team begins the search for underground structures that could reveal the grave of another lost king: Henry I, fourth son of William the Conqueror. |
| “He’s there all right, resting quietly, and when they find him we’ll be looking for great things from the football team,” O’Shea said, pondering the astonishing success of Leicester’s footballing Foxes since their king rose again. | |
| The project has many echoes of the hunt four years ago for Richard III. If the archaeologists find bones wrapped in rotting leather, it would be as useful a pointer as the shepherd’s crook twist in the spine when Richard’s skeleton was uncovered in 2012. | The project has many echoes of the hunt four years ago for Richard III. If the archaeologists find bones wrapped in rotting leather, it would be as useful a pointer as the shepherd’s crook twist in the spine when Richard’s skeleton was uncovered in 2012. |
| Henry I died in France in 1136 – famously, according to his physician, from gorging on “a surfeit of lampreys” – but his body was sent back for burial in the abbey he founded, stitched into a bull’s hide. | Henry I died in France in 1136 – famously, according to his physician, from gorging on “a surfeit of lampreys” – but his body was sent back for burial in the abbey he founded, stitched into a bull’s hide. |
| Related: Armchair archaeologists can explore Richard III's grave in online model | Related: Armchair archaeologists can explore Richard III's grave in online model |
| The presbytery and the neighbouring Victorian Roman Catholic church were built over the ruins of one of the grandest abbeys of medieval England, Henry’s royal foundation, whose church was larger than Durham Cathedral. | The presbytery and the neighbouring Victorian Roman Catholic church were built over the ruins of one of the grandest abbeys of medieval England, Henry’s royal foundation, whose church was larger than Durham Cathedral. |
| It is no surprise that Edward Cox and his team are receiving radar signals suggesting buried medieval stonework: O’Shea keeps his bins neatly tucked behind a 20ft column of flint that was once part of the choir arches, further screened by a waist-high heap of stone that has fallen from it. | It is no surprise that Edward Cox and his team are receiving radar signals suggesting buried medieval stonework: O’Shea keeps his bins neatly tucked behind a 20ft column of flint that was once part of the choir arches, further screened by a waist-high heap of stone that has fallen from it. |
| The excitement is because his garden, and the playground of the neighbouring Forbury Gardens Day Nursery, are the closest open ground to the probable site of the high altar where Henry was buried. | The excitement is because his garden, and the playground of the neighbouring Forbury Gardens Day Nursery, are the closest open ground to the probable site of the high altar where Henry was buried. |
| More abbey remains are known to lie under Reading prison, including under its car park, and under the burial ground for the executed men described by its most famous prisoner, Oscar Wilde. | More abbey remains are known to lie under Reading prison, including under its car park, and under the burial ground for the executed men described by its most famous prisoner, Oscar Wilde. |
| Many other royal burials followed, including Henry’s second wife, and the infant son of his successor, his nephew Stephen. Reading remained a royal favourite even after the dissolution of the monasteries, part of the abbey buildings becoming a palace where Elizabeth I often stayed, until it was sacked in the civil war. | Many other royal burials followed, including Henry’s second wife, and the infant son of his successor, his nephew Stephen. Reading remained a royal favourite even after the dissolution of the monasteries, part of the abbey buildings becoming a palace where Elizabeth I often stayed, until it was sacked in the civil war. |
| The museum has a magnificent collection of carved pillar tops, among the most important in Europe, showing how rich the lost buildings were. | The museum has a magnificent collection of carved pillar tops, among the most important in Europe, showing how rich the lost buildings were. |
| The museum is a partner with the council, the Heritage Lottery Fund and the church, as well as the Friends of Reading Abbey, in linked projects to trace the lost buildings and restore and interpret the many surviving structures and buildings now confusingly scattered among the town’s office blocks and shops. | The museum is a partner with the council, the Heritage Lottery Fund and the church, as well as the Friends of Reading Abbey, in linked projects to trace the lost buildings and restore and interpret the many surviving structures and buildings now confusingly scattered among the town’s office blocks and shops. |
| “People are astonished when they realise how much of it is still here, but the town has certainly done its very best in the past to make it difficult to find and understand,” Matthew Williams, the museum’s manager, said. | “People are astonished when they realise how much of it is still here, but the town has certainly done its very best in the past to make it difficult to find and understand,” Matthew Williams, the museum’s manager, said. |
| The last attempt to improve the setting of the Grade I-listed ruins ended in disaster, when a structural survey revealed some were in danger of collapse. The park within the largest expanse of the walls has been locked since 2009, and an ominous row of neatly dated bins inside the gate is filled with stones that have fallen from the walls since then. | The last attempt to improve the setting of the Grade I-listed ruins ended in disaster, when a structural survey revealed some were in danger of collapse. The park within the largest expanse of the walls has been locked since 2009, and an ominous row of neatly dated bins inside the gate is filled with stones that have fallen from the walls since then. |
| John Painter, secretary of the Friends of Reading Abbey, says the town wants the abbey back and the king would be a welcome bonus. “In truth, I think it’s very unlikely that we will find the bones, but what we might find is the vault where he once lay,” he said. | John Painter, secretary of the Friends of Reading Abbey, says the town wants the abbey back and the king would be a welcome bonus. “In truth, I think it’s very unlikely that we will find the bones, but what we might find is the vault where he once lay,” he said. |
| The search for Henry I was suggested by Philippa Langley, who launched the hunt for King Richard III. | The search for Henry I was suggested by Philippa Langley, who launched the hunt for King Richard III. |
| Even if bones are found in the right place – and the soil is layered with bones from centuries of burials in the abbey up to Tudor times, from the prison and from a nearby medieval lepers’ hospital – identification would be very difficult for remains more than three centuries older than those of Richard III. | Even if bones are found in the right place – and the soil is layered with bones from centuries of burials in the abbey up to Tudor times, from the prison and from a nearby medieval lepers’ hospital – identification would be very difficult for remains more than three centuries older than those of Richard III. |
| Richard’s skeleton was discovered exactly where it was buried in Leicester in 1485, and the scientists managed to extract DNA that exactly matched two descendants of his sister. Even if bones could be dated to Henry’s day, and DNA extracted, a living direct descendant would have to be traced of one of his many illegitimate children, or through his mother’s line. | Richard’s skeleton was discovered exactly where it was buried in Leicester in 1485, and the scientists managed to extract DNA that exactly matched two descendants of his sister. Even if bones could be dated to Henry’s day, and DNA extracted, a living direct descendant would have to be traced of one of his many illegitimate children, or through his mother’s line. |
| When the medieval abbeys were remodelled over the centuries, even before Henry VIII launched their dissolution, heaps of unrelated bones were often buried in charnel pits. Some survived as parish churches, others as secular buildings, with their burials intact but the grave markers gone. | When the medieval abbeys were remodelled over the centuries, even before Henry VIII launched their dissolution, heaps of unrelated bones were often buried in charnel pits. Some survived as parish churches, others as secular buildings, with their burials intact but the grave markers gone. |
| In Reading, the legend that the king was buried in a silver coffin would have lured treasure hunters, and there are 19th-century stories of a brick vault being found and the bones seized by souvenir hunters from the town. | In Reading, the legend that the king was buried in a silver coffin would have lured treasure hunters, and there are 19th-century stories of a brick vault being found and the bones seized by souvenir hunters from the town. |
| The rediscovery of Richard Crookback in Leicester was a triumph of scholarship but also a freak of history and soil chemistry. At Winchester, several attempts to find the remains of Alfred the Great, whose body was moved and reburied at least three times, eventually produced a fragment of pelvis whose dating could just link it to the king or his family. | The rediscovery of Richard Crookback in Leicester was a triumph of scholarship but also a freak of history and soil chemistry. At Winchester, several attempts to find the remains of Alfred the Great, whose body was moved and reburied at least three times, eventually produced a fragment of pelvis whose dating could just link it to the king or his family. |
| Just as at Reading, part of the Winchester site became a prison, and there were 18th-century accounts of bones from Alfred’s last resting place being ground up as fertiliser for the governor’s garden. Henry may well have met a similarly ignominious fate – but as the search for Richard proved, miracles do sometimes happen. | Just as at Reading, part of the Winchester site became a prison, and there were 18th-century accounts of bones from Alfred’s last resting place being ground up as fertiliser for the governor’s garden. Henry may well have met a similarly ignominious fate – but as the search for Richard proved, miracles do sometimes happen. |