9:32am Tuesday 6th October 2009
By Ian Noble
ANCIENT skeletons found in an Anglo-Scandinavian Christian cemetery under a market town have been reburied 900 years after they were first interred.
Archaeologists found 57 bodies dating from between 679AD and 1011AD buried beneath Masham, near Ripon, North Yorkshire.
They were unearthed in the late Eighties as building works took place close to the Little Market Place. Mystery surrounds why they were buried on that site.
Sixty people joined a procession to St Mary’s Church, Masham, for a burial service yesterday.
Kevin Cale, director of Community Archaeology, was involved in the excavations. He said: “I am very pleased that the service has come about as I had been hoping for something like this since we found them.
“I am delighted that so many people have turned up as this tells us a little bit about Masham’s past. When I first arrived on site it was clear we were looking at a substantial find. I’m pleased that we now know more about them “I think there will be other areas round Masham with skeletons like this just waiting to be found.”
The first remains were found in 1988 near Masham centre when Yorkshire Water was laying pipes to a toilet block.
They unearthed about 30 bodies in the area known as Dixon Keld, and the next year the water board found another 24 bodies nearby.
Harrogate Borough Council and Bradford University joined together to investigate the find.
Not all of the remains were complete. They included men, women and children and are thought to be a mixture of Vikings and Anglo Saxons.
They were dug up a short way from Masham churchyard in what has been dubbed a lost cemetery, but there is no evidence of a violent death.
The men were buried apart from the women and children and they were facing eastwards, as in an old Christian tradition.
Joyce Marr, of the Little Market Place, who was at the burial, said: “My house is built on where the bodies were found so we have followed the dig and it’s been very interesting.
“In my view they were buried already and it was a difficult decision as to whether to dig them up and move them. Everyone has their own view but at least they were treated respectfully.”
Reverend David Cleeves, who led the service, said: “This is a unique occasion and these bones are the material remains of past inhabitants of Masham.
“We remember, honour and prey for these people who mattered to family, friends and others in the community.”
A free exhibition celebrating the town’s heritage is to be held at Masham Town Hall on Saturday, October 17, from 11am to 4pm. At 2.15pm Mr Cale will give a talk about the skeletons’ discovery and at 3pm, Lord Masham will unveil a plaque at the original burial site.
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