Despite impression given in media, Chancellor preferred experts’ opinion to fanciful speculation
Encouraged by the kudos and other benefits resulting from the identification of the remains of Richard III in Leicester, a number of groups have been attempting to replicate this success by seeking out other “high profile” burials, previously thought to be lost. As we have noted earlier, however, whereas archaeological interest has consistently been considered a “good and proper reason” to grant a licence for exhumation, it is much less likely to form the grounds of a successful petition for a faculty, as in Re St Nicholas, Sevenoaks [2005] 1 WLR 1011 and Re Holy Trinity, Bosham [2004] Fam 125.
Next year marks the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare and a television production company, Arrow Media, is planning to produce a 60-90 minute film following the research by the University of Staffordshire, investigating what can be learnt about the death and burial of Shakespeare using new technology and science. An important component of the programme was to have been an examination of a skull currently located in the vault beneath the Sheldon Chapel of St Leonard’s Church, Beoley.
Two pamphlets attributed to a former vicar of St Leonard’s suggest that the this could be that of William Shakespeare, stolen from Holy Trinity, Stratford upon Avon, at the time of the Shakespeare Jubilee in 1769; in response to an unfulfilled offer by Horace Walpole of £300 for securing the skull; when the money was not forthcoming, instead of replacing the skull in Holy Trinity, it was allegedly hidden in the vault at Beoley. Continue reading