Excavations, Coventry Cathedral
In July 2015 work commenced to excavate parts of the floor of the Cathedral ruins in order to provide waterproofing for the crypt chapels beneath the north-east corner. As a result sections of the pre-war floor of the cathedral have been revealed for the first time since the building was destroyed by bombing in 1940.
It appears that the postwar paving of the ruins was laid over the original floor and much of the war debris, thus burying it at a depth of more than two feet in places. Though badly damaged by the collapse of so much of the building many of the ledger slabs, memorial inscriptions laid in the old floor, can be seen for the first time since the bombing. One slab in particular shows the indents of late medieval brasses, with the ghostly outlines of a man and his two wives. In other places there are even fragments of burnt wood visible that were once part of the lost choir stalls.
At one end of the excavated area a pit is visible that reveals two medieval windowcills and a small niche above a doorway, which currently define the outer edge of the Wyley Chapel crypt, but originally formed part of St Mary's chapel, a formerly two-storey building that was later partially demolished and incorporated into St Michael's church when it was extended in the later Middle Ages.
For two weeks sections of the floor will remain visible giving visitors a rare glimpse of what lies beneath the current paving of the ruins before a new waterproof membrane is installed and the area repaved as before.
Excavations, Coventry Cathedral
In July 2015 work commenced to excavate parts of the floor of the Cathedral ruins in order to provide waterproofing for the crypt chapels beneath the north-east corner. As a result sections of the pre-war floor of the cathedral have been revealed for the first time since the building was destroyed by bombing in 1940.
It appears that the postwar paving of the ruins was laid over the original floor and much of the war debris, thus burying it at a depth of more than two feet in places. Though badly damaged by the collapse of so much of the building many of the ledger slabs, memorial inscriptions laid in the old floor, can be seen for the first time since the bombing. One slab in particular shows the indents of late medieval brasses, with the ghostly outlines of a man and his two wives. In other places there are even fragments of burnt wood visible that were once part of the lost choir stalls.
At one end of the excavated area a pit is visible that reveals two medieval windowcills and a small niche above a doorway, which currently define the outer edge of the Wyley Chapel crypt, but originally formed part of St Mary's chapel, a formerly two-storey building that was later partially demolished and incorporated into St Michael's church when it was extended in the later Middle Ages.
For two weeks sections of the floor will remain visible giving visitors a rare glimpse of what lies beneath the current paving of the ruins before a new waterproof membrane is installed and the area repaved as before.