Issue 5. November 2016
Discoveries in Anglesey
The church of St Gredifael in the Anglesey village of Penmynydd is no longer used as a place of worship but is important because it was the home church of the Tudur family, known in English as the Tudors, and houses the tomb of Goronwy and Myfanwy. Goronwy Tudur known as Gornw Fychan died in an accident in 1382. He was the uncle of Owain Tudur, who was the grandfather of Henry Tudor, who became Henry VII. The tomb was originally at Llanfaes Friary, but moved to St Gredifael’s following the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII. It is currently in the news as, during a project to clean and restore this rare alabaster tomb, a number of bones were discovered under it. Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of at least six people. “Surely,” you may say, “one expects to find bones under a tomb.” In this case it is not so. It was customary to bury the rich inside the church and then move them to the graveyard outside, but it appears, for reasons unknown, that these skeletons remained inside. Spencer Smith, who’s been a leading part of the excavation team, said: “The wooden floor of the north side of the church was not strong enough to take the weight of the panels the tomb is made up of, and consequently the floor was lifted in order to work out how to best replace it. When the floor was lifted, several very disturbed burials were found, which we believe had been disturbed during the construction of the wooden floor in 1848. The loose bone will be recorded and studied before reburial within the church and the graves discovered will be recorded but the bodies left within them.”
From the Editor’s Desk Starting with this issue we are making a few slight changes. The banner will have a date as well as an issue number; this doesn't mean , however, that it will be published regularly!. The front page will no longer be a cover picture but will be, like issue 1, part of the content and probably mostly news. The Church Mouse is published as an e-magazine and no paper version is available. You may, however, print a copy for your own use; email requesting a .pdf file for the issue that you require. Editors of church magazines and similar publications are welcome to use extracts, all that is asked is that you acknowledge the source and send us a copy of the publication. With an email request we will send you a word doc of the article. ©2016. The Captain's Library http://www.issuu.com/the-captain Email: magazines@post.com
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