2-798-915 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The excavation in which the cists were found - the Mount and Priory ruins, 1845. 11th-century human remains were found in the ruins of the 'ancient Priory of Lewes' in Sussex, during the construction of a railway line. They bones were discovered to be of Gundreda, the founder of the Priory and daughter of William the Conqueror, and of her husband William of Warren, the first Earl of Warren and Surrey. The remains '...were found lying about 24 feet below the surface in two square compartments, formed, apparently, by the foundation-walls.' Shown here is '...the precise locality, with "the Mount," an artificial elevation, the origin and uses of which are involved in much doubt'. From "Illustrated London News", 1845, Vol VII.