Medieval grave slabs recovered from historic shipwreck

Maritime archaeologists from Bournemouth University (BU) have recovered two medieval graves slabs which have been lying at the bottom of Studland Bay for nearly 800 years. The slabs, carved from Purbeck Marble, were amongst the cargo of England’s oldest historic shipwreck, which sank off the Dorset coast during the reign of Henry III in the thirteenth century. The site has been named the “Mortar Wreck” because other items in its cargo included a large number of grinding mortars, also made from Purbeck stone. Details of the discovery will shortly be published in the journal Antiquity. Divers and archaeologists led by Bournemouth University brought the slabs to the surface on 4th June in a two hour operation from a depth of around seven metres where the stones lay. For further information please visit the BU website: