Builders find lost archbishops in London crypt

LONDON: The remains of five archbishops of Canterbury have been accidentally discovered by builders in a hidden tomb beneath a London church, site developers said on Sunday.

Some 20 lead coffins were discovered in a crypt underneath St Mary’s-at-Lambeth, which sits outside Lambeth Palace, the central London residence of the archbishop of Canterbury — the highest cleric in England.

Two have been identified from name plates, while records show that five were buried in the crypt.

Of the two identified archbishops, one is Richard Bancroft, who was in office from 1604 to 1610.

Several hundred coffins were cleared out of the church for extensive renovation works in 1850s, during which the vaults were filled in with earth.

But builders accidentally discovered one crypt had been left untouched. “This was the discovery of a recorded vault below the chancel for high status burials, including those of five archbishops of Canterbury,” said the trust which runs the site.

The deconsecrated church is now the Garden Museum. It closed in October 2015 for renovations. It is due to reopen next month.

“We were lifting the slabs and we uncovered an entry to what looked like a tomb,” said site manager Karl Patten.

“We got a camera on the end of a stick and discovered numerous coffins and one of them had a gold crown on top of it.”