The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-09-05
THE DAILY UNION.

REMAINS OF EUNsERY The excavations for the
Syston and Peterborough railway, on the west side
of 81 Martins, Stamford, have led 10 some interest
ing discoveries in the close adlolnng the Nuns Farm.
II was the site Of Benedctlne nunnery which
was founded in ll56 by one Of the AbbOts of Peter
borough for "forty holy virgins, living regularly in
religion and pure virginity," and was dissolved in
1889; that than three centuries have elapsed
since IL was the abode Ia Ne OF those whose remains
lie buried there. In removing the surface Of the
ground, several stone collins, containing skulls and
other fragments of mortality, have been exposed 10
view; and pieces Of stained glass, mullions of win
dows, capitals and portions OF auted pillars coins
DC, have also been dug out Much Of the stone
work is very deliberately caryodi II is evidently the
debris of sacred edi6ce and proves that the build
ing must have been one Of great beauty The
stained glass is principally Of the color Of bottle
glass, very thick and some Of il quite Opaque il is
hardly possible 10 believe that the thicker portions
which have been found have been intended for
the admission of light and the inference therefore is
that they must either have formed ornamental tab
lets, or have been used tesselated pavement in
portion Of the edifee. The skulls and bones ex.
humed mostly those Of troublesome Of them
persons who died in the prime of life as the teeth
beautifully perfect One Of the skulls is that of
a man, and another that Of child How the latter
could come there must again be a matter of infer
enee. The coins found In the Nuns Close are Of
different periods. Mr. Carr, one Of the railway sur
yeyoIs, has some IN his possession IN an admirable
state of preservation. They are supposed to be Ell
ther Norman or Saxon il the latter, it is not i'm
probable they may have lain in the earth since the
year 1852, as in that year castle, which erect
ed by the Saxons under Alfred, on the site Of the
Nuns Farm, was demolished, Among the other
curiosities picked up were silver bodkin, with two
eyelets in the broad part Of IL, and brass locket
the latter Mr. Carr thinks, originally contained a
coin Of the reign in which the foundation of the
nuDnery was laid, and was placed there as coins are
at the present day deposited when buildings of m-
portance are commenced. One Of the stone collins
exhumed on Wednesday contained very perfect
skeleton and by the side Of it were some pieces of
carved stone, with il!cgble descriptions. Yester.
day Thursday some Of the men were obstructed
in their operations by a wall of masonry work,
which turned out to be spacious arched vault built
Of stone: a short distance from the vault was con-
siderable heap Of bones Of various Sizes and in an
other part finger bone waA picked up with ring
upon il. The discoveries have excited great inter-
est in Stamford, and the site has been visited by i'm
mense numbers of persons. One Of the stone cof
fms, supposed to have been deposited in the 18th or
18th century,) together with some antique carvings
in oak have been presented to the Stamford Instu-
ton by Messrs. Wykes and Co., the railway con-
tractors.-SiantOrd Eng Mercury