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Beneath the Pavement

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Westminster Abbey, England’s necropolis for royalty and other notables, reveals more secrets.

 The original burial tomb of Edward the Confessor, founder of Westminster Abbey, has been discovered thanks to a study at the Abbey using ground-penetrating radar (GPR). Other royal tombs, dating from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries have also been revealed. The under-floor chambers while archaeologists were investigating the construction of the Abbey’s Cosmati mosaic pavement, dating back to 1268, in front of the High Altar. The Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr Wesley Carr, comments: ‘It seems fitting that we have made these discoveries during the 1,000th anniversary year of the birth of St Edward. It’s another reminder of how Abbey history and humanity are packed together.’

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