PREVIEW

Maritime archaeologists have recovered a number of incredibly preserved grave slabs from England's oldest known shipwreck, the 13th Century Mortar Wreck which was discovered in Poole Bay, off Dorset in 2020. The wreck, named for its cargo of grinding mortars made from Purbeck stone, has already yielded cauldrons, cups, pottery, and other kitchen objects. A team from Bournemouth University has now returned to the site to raise the carved slabs along with the stone mortars. The slabs, crafted from Purbeck marble, have been lying at the bottom of Studland Bay for nearly 800 years. Among the cargo of the historic shipwreck, which sank during the reign of Henry III, these slabs were intended to be coffin lids or crypt monuments for high-status clergy. Similar examples have also been found in Westminster Abbey, Canterbury Cathedral, and Salisbury Cathedral. The team raised the slabs to the surface on 4 June in a two-hour operation from a depth of around seven metres. Both immaculately preserved slabs feature carvings of Christian crosses typical of the thirteenth century. These artefacts will now undergo desalination and conservation by the Bournemouth team before being put on public display alongside other recovered items at Poole Museum.