Do bones of town’s saint lie in Brum museum storeroom?
Seventh century nun St Modwen could now be in Birmingham, claims historian
THE bones of a seventh century saint could be languishing in the bowels of Birmingham Museum, a leading historian believes.
He claims Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery has the remains of Saint Modwen, the patron saint of Burtonon-Trent and woman who brought Christianity to the Midlands.
The bones were found in 1952 by two builders, but disappeared years ago.
Historian David Adkins has been told they are stored in Birmingham.
The saint, otherwise known as Modwenna, is believed to have introduced Christianity to Mercia and is known to have been behind the building of Burton Abbey in the seventh century.
She was an Irish noblewoman and nun who built the famous abbey on the banks of the River Trent, living there for seven years before leaving to go to Rome on a pilgrimage.
Modwenna is said to have performed many holy miracles at the abbey and to this day the well on the site is said to have healing properties. St Modwen’s Church in Burton Market Place is named after her.
Historian Mr Adkins first began researching another skeleton called Greta, in 1990, which was found in local gravel pits in 1943.
From there he came across reference to the “Market Hall Skeleton” discovered by the builders and what he believes are the bones belonging to Saint Modwen.
He says if his theory is proved right and the bones are St Modwen’s they should be returned to the town and laid to rest in the church named after the saint.
Mr Adkins said: “The bones had been found in 1952 by two builders Alex Ingley and Fred Coates while they had been digging a trench for the foundations of a brick storage unit behind the Market Hall and next to the ancient wall of Burton Abbey.
What they discovered was a complete skeleton – with a perfect set of teeth, bar one.
“The Coroner for Burton, Mr Bishop, identified them as ‘ancient human remains’ and so there was no need for an inquest, but no more specific tests were done. The estimate was that they were at least 500 years old, although a precise date could not be determined and the bones were taken to Burton police station for examination but disappeared.
“An elderly gentleman told me the bones had been sent to Birmingham – I cannot recall whether it was Birmingham University or Birmingham Museum.
“The most likely is the museum and last November I was on a dig with anthropologists and archaeologists who told me that there were many unidentified skeletons in the storerooms or basements of Birmingham Museum.
“It’s likely that the Burton skeleton is one of these. If it is, then it will be easily identifiable for one important reason – the bones are black.”
He is convinced the skeleton belongs to St Modwen after his extensive research.
He said: “The bones were black meaning they had been buried in very waterlogged ground for a significant period of time.
“We know from the historical record that Modwen’s body was sent from Scotland where she died and was to be buried on the Island of Andressey where she had founded her first religious settlement. The Island of Andressey was liable to be far more waterlogged at times than the land on the church side of the river.
“As we know Modwen was buried on Andressey until 1002-04 when her remains were exhumed and placed inside the newly founded Abbey Church, then they would have spent sufficient time in the waterlogged ground of Andressey to attain their blackened appearance.
“From other remains that have been accidentally dug up in Burton parish churchyard over the years we know that these have not turned black, indicating that the land on the church side was never as wet as that on Andressey.
“The question then has to be why was a body moved from what must have been very wet ground to comparatively dry ground to the East Cloister of Burton Abbey.
“There is only one historical record that fits this sequence of events and that is the record of St Modwen’s burial, as we know she spent many years buried on Andressey before her bones were exhumed and placed in a shrine in the old Abbey Church.
“Also, when Fred Coates and Alex Ingley discovered them in 1952 they were buried only four feet down. A typical burial would be at a depth of six feet, meaning this had been quite a shallow grave.
“This also fits with the hasty burial of bones rather than the standard burial of a fully fleshed corpse.
“Furthermore, the bones were discovered not laid out as a burial but stacked with the skull placed on top.
“The builders found the skull first and then worked down to exhume the carefully positioned bones and clearly stacked bones means they must have gone into the ground that way – that is as bones, as its impossible to bury a fleshed body in this way.”
Mr Adkins says it is very important the remains of the “Market Hall Skeleton” are found, adding “we need to repatriate them back to Burton and seek agreement to house them back inside the parish church.
“Critically, through science we could now prove it is her. By extracting her DNA and mapping her genome, we could ascertain her genetic history and a dental isotope could tell us where she was born and lived every 12 years of her life.
“We could then compare the historical record of St Modwen with the genetic record of Modwen and see if the two records matched.
“We would be looking for genetic proof of her birth in Ireland and then her subsequent life in England – at Burton Abbey.
“If we were able to then confirm these are the remains of St. Modwen, then we would also be able to do a facial reconstruction so we can see what our saint actually looked like.”
If we were able to then confirm these are the remains of St Modwen, we would also be able to do a facial reconstruction David Adkins