Unique Purbeck Marble Found On England’s Oldest Historic Shipwreck

Conny Waters - AncientPages.com - Maritime archaeologists from Bournemouth University have made a remarkable discovery by recovering two Medieval grave slabs submerged at the bottom of Studland Bay for nearly 800 years. These slabs, carved from the fossiliferous Purbeck marble, were part of the cargo on England's oldest known historic shipwreck, which sank off the Dorset coast during the reign of Henry III in the 13th century.

Credit: Bournemouth University

Purbeck marble is a variety of Purbeck stone, a fossiliferous limestone found in the Isle of Purbeck, a peninsula in south-east Dorset, England. This decorative building stone has been quarried since at least Roman times and has been widely used throughout history. There is evidence of its use dating back to the Bronze Age. During the Romano-British period, it was utilized for inscriptions, architectural moldings, veneers, mortars, pestles, and other articles.

In medieval times, Purbeck marble was extensively quarried and can be seen in virtually all the cathedrals of southern England, where it was used for columns, slab panels, and flooring. The recovery of these two grave slabs from the shipwreck provides valuable insights into the maritime trade and craftsmanship of the medieval era.

The archaeological site where the grave slabs were discovered has been dubbed the "Mortar Wreck" due to a substantial number of grinding mortars, also crafted from Purbeck stone, among its cargo.

On June 4th, a team of divers and archaeologists led by Bournemouth University undertook a two-hour operation to retrieve the slabs from approximately seven meters beneath the surface.

One of the remarkably well-preserved slabs measures one and a half meters in length and weighs an estimated 70 kilograms. The other, much larger slab is in two pieces, with a combined length of two meters and a weight of around 200 kilograms. Both slabs bear intricate carvings of Christian crosses, a popular motif in the thirteenth century. The research team believes these slabs were intended to serve as coffin lids or crypt monuments for high-ranking clergy members.

Credit: Bournemouth University

“The wreck went down in the height of the Purbeck stone industry and the grave slabs we have here were a very popular monument for bishops and archbishops across all the cathedrals and monasteries in England at the time,” explained Tom Cousins, a Maritime Archaeologist at Bournemouth University who led the recovery.

Credit: Bournemouth University

“Examples have been found in Westminster Abbey, Canterbury Cathedral and Salisbury Cathedral, he added in a press statement.”

The Bournemouth team will now undertake the process of desalinating and conserving the recovered grave slabs until they can be put on public display alongside other recovered artifacts in the new Shipwreck Gallery when Poole Museum reopens next year.

The site of the Mortar Wreck was initially discovered in 1982 but was mistakenly identified as a pile of rubble on the seabed. It was not until 2019 that its significance was recognized when Tom and a team from the University, acting on a suggestion from local charter skipper Trevor Small, dived site and uncovered the secrets buried beneath the sand.

The ongoing recovery of artifacts, such as the mortars and grave slabs, will enable the Bournemouth team to gain valuable insights into 13th-century life and the ancient craft of stonemasonry. This discovery presents a unique opportunity to expand our understanding of this historical period.

“Although Purbeck marble was quarried near Corfe Castle there has always been a debate about how much work was done here and how much was done 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 so there is still more we can learn,” Tom said in a press release.

The team will dedicate the upcoming years to further exploring and safeguarding the wreck. One of their objectives is to undertake an operation to document the timber frames of the ship's hull, which remain remarkably well-preserved within the sand. Additionally, Tom intends to utilize this endeavor as a valuable training opportunity for his university students, providing them with practical experience in the field.

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“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 get into the third year we’re going to take them out to sea and teach them their first steps to becoming maritime archaeologists,” he said.

Written by Conny Waters - AncientPages.com Staff Writer