Furness Abbey grave yields treasures of a prosperous medieval abbot

Unexpected medieval treasures have been discovered in a grave at one of the UK’s most beautiful abbeys along with the bones of the abbot they belonged to – probably a well-fed, little exercised man in his 40s who suffered from arthritis and type 2 diabetes.

The discoveries were made at Furness Abbey, on the outskirts of Barrow in Cumbria, a place that in its day was one of the most powerful and richest Cistercian abbeys in the country.

Archaeologists found a silver-gilt crozier (a kind of staff of office) and a jewelled ring in remarkable condition. “This is a very rare find which underlines the abbey’s status as one of the great power bases of the middle ages,” said Kevin Booth, senior curator at English Heritage. Continue reading

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