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.
Tom Cousins, a maritime archaeologist from Bournemouth University, explained: "The wreck went down at the height of the Purbeck stone industry. The grave slabs we have here were very popular monuments for bishops and archbishops across all the cathedrals and monasteries in England at the time."
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. One immaculately preserved slab measures one and a half metres and weighs an estimated 70 kilograms. The other, a much larger slab in two pieces, has a combined length of two metres and weighs around 200 kilograms. Both 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 in the new Shipwreck Gallery when Poole Museum reopens next year.
The Mortar Wreck was initially discovered as an 'obstruction' in 1982 but was presumed to be a pile of rubble. Its true significance was revealed in 2019 when Tom Cousins and his team, following a tip from local charter skipper Trevor Small, dived the site and uncovered its hidden treasures.
The continued recovery of artefacts from the wreck, such as the mortars and grave slabs, offers valuable insights into thirteenth-century life and the ancient craft of stonemasonry.
"Although Purbeck marble was quarried near Corfe Castle, there has always been debate about how much work was done here and how much in London. Now we know they were definitely carving them here, but they hadn’t been polished into the usual shiny finish at the time they sank," Cousins noted.
The team plans to continue exploring and protecting the wreck, including recording the well-preserved timber frames of the ship's hull.
Cousins also aims to use this project as a training opportunity for Bournemouth University students, teaching them the fundamentals of maritime archaeology.
"The future aim of the project is to train the next generation so that they get the same opportunities I had. We’ve already started teaching our second-year students to dive, and as they advance to their third year, we’ll take them out to sea and teach them their first steps to becoming maritime archaeologists," he added.
Details of the discovery will be published in the journal Antiquity.