The bones of early Medieval bishops and royals are being reinterred in six mortuary chests in Winchester Cathedral after more than a decade of painstaking work.
Bones reinterred in Winchester Cathedral mortuary chests after more than a decade of analysis and reorganisation
Begun in 2012, the Mortuary Chests Project is one of the longest and most ambitious research initiatives at the Cathedral in modern times, and has involved the expertise of many specialist academics, conservators, staff and volunteers.
The arrangement of individuals into chests has been based first on their radiocarbon dates. Individuals dating from a similar period will be interred together in the same chest.
The history of the mortuary chests predates the chests themselves. The human remains contained within each chest can be traced to the 7th-12th centuries.
Many of the remains are believed to have been originally buried in the Anglo-Saxon Old Minster, which stood on the site adjacent to the present cathedral. The remains have been traditionally ascribed to early medieval royals and bishops.
The names given in Latin on the sides of the six existing chests are: Cynegils, Cynewulf, Ecgbert, Aethelwulf, Eadred, Edmund, Cnut, William Rufus, Bishop Wine, Bishop Alwine, and Queen Emma. However, it is likely the remains of other early medieval individuals not listed are also contained within the chests.
The project’s findings on the likely individuals interred in the chests – expected later this year – will be highly significant in the fields of archaeology, history and genetics.
Winchester Cathedral Curator, Eleanor Swire, says:
“This project demonstrates the combined power of science, the study of human remains and historical research to discover new information about the six mortuary chests and their occupants which would not have been available to us a generation ago.”
Winchester Cathedral has permission to commission two new chests to house some of the bones. Further details of this process will be published in the summer of 2026.
