Issue no 56, December 2000

Unexploded shells and other military evidence from William III's siege of Limerick in 1690-91 have come to light in the centre of the city.

The legendary siege formed part of William's campaign to crush his father-in-law James II's catholic armies in Ireland, and followed his victory at the Boyne north of Dublin earlier in the year. The siege failed, leading to the Treaty of Limerick in 1691 which the English promptly dishonoured - to lasting infamy.

William's tactic was to bombard the bridge linking Limerick's twin walled settlements on either side of the Abbey River, a branch of the Shannon. Excavations in the river near the bridge, in advance of a drainage scheme, have produced three complete mortar shells with gunpowder and fuses intact and numerous fragments of exploded shells. Also found were about 50 cannon balls, musket and pistol balls, gunflints, a bayonet, buttons and badges from the period, and an ornate hilt from a 17th century rapier.

The mortar shells, each the size of a basketball and weighing up to 15 stone, are among the very few intact examples known that have been fired in anger. Described as `Tom and Jerry bombs' by the excavator, Ed O'Donovan of Margaret Gowen Limited, they have the classic cartoon-bomb appearance - round, hollow spheres full of gunpowder with a hole in the top and a fuse sticking out.

They were no joke, however, when they went off. Lobbed over a town's walls by massive 13-inch cannon, the base-weighted iron shells could easily break through slate roofs and wooden floors until the gunpowder was detonated by a slow-burning timber fuse, blowing the building apart. Anyone nearby was liable to be struck by flying shards of cast iron two inches thick. The shells could be fired over a range of about half a mile.

Among the 6,000 other finds made during excavation in the river were a bronze Viking animal-headed ornament, about 150 medieval coins including one of King Cnut (1016-1035) minted in London, a set of medieval spurs and a 16th century port seal bearing the city's coat of arms and the legend `Lymurick'.

Finds of more recent date include handguns of the Irish civil war of the 1920s, and a man's gold wedding ring bearing the marriage date of 12 February 1798. Was the ring perhaps thrown into the river, in rage or sadness, when the marriage came to an end?

The head of the Roman cavalryman Longinus has been reunited with the rest of his tombstone, following the remarkable discovery of the missing part in Colchester four years ago. The main tomb was discovered in 1928, face down and in pieces, in what had been the principal western cemetery of the Roman town. All the pieces were retrieved apart from the missing head. In 1996, excavations in the cemetery by the amateur Colchester Archaeology Group found the head, which proved to be a perfect fit with the rest of Longinus's body.

Since then, the head has undergone extensive conservation work.

The tombstone is thought to be one of the two earliest Roman military examples in Britain, dating from the period AD 43-49 when Colchester's legionary fortress was in operation.

The other, also from Colchester, belonged to the centurion Marcus Savonius Facilis and was found in the early 19th century. The inscription on Longinus Sdapeze's tomb records that he was a duplicarius, or second in command, of a Thracian cavalry unit. He was born in what is now Sofia in Bulgaria, and died in Colchester aged 40 after 15 years' service.

According to Philip Wise, Curator of Archaeology at Colchester Museums, the head was intentionally hacked off in antiquity, possibly during the Boudican sack of Colchester in ad 60 or 61. It was found at a slightly lower stratigraphic level than the rest of the tomb, however, suggesting that the tomb may have been re-erected without its head after the revolt, only to be knocked down again at some unknown later date.

The discovery of an all-male cemetery at Portmahomack in Easter Ross, together with new 6th century dating evidence from the graves, seems to confirm that the site was one of Scotland's earliest monasteries.

A Scottish Battlefields Register is in preparation at Historic Scotland, following public disquiet over current development proposals at sites such as Bannockburn (1314) and Sherrifmuir (1715).

Carmarthen, burial ground of wronged princesses. It sounds unlikely, but excavations in the Welsh town's parish church have uncovered the graves of members of what was arguably the legitimate British royal family, at a time when the `usurper' Queen Victoria sat on the throne at Buckingham Palace.

George III, grandfather of Queen Victoria, is said to have secretly married a Quaker girl, Hannah Lightfoot, while he was Prince of Wales in 1759, and produced three children. The Royal Family disapproved, and when George became king in 1760 his marriage and children were concealed to allow him to marry Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz in 1761. It is from this allegedly bigamous second marriage that the present royal family descends.

The three children of his first marriage disappeared, more or less. One, George `Rex', emigrated to South Africa. Another, Sarah, married a Carmarthen doctor, James Dalton. This much has long been known.

What was forgotten was that some of Sarah's descendents were buried in the parish church of St Peter's. Avault containing the bones of her daughter Charlotte Dalton (died 1832, aged 27) and grand-daughter Margaret Augusta Prydderch, Charlotte's niece (died 1839, aged 9), was revealed this summer following removal of a late-Victorian tiled floor in advance of restoration work at the church.

The vault was clearly marked by a memorial stone inscribed with the occupants' names, and contained two coffins - one large, the other small - which have not been opened. If lined with lead, the bodies and clothing may still be well-preserved inside.

According to Gwilym Hughes, Director of Cambria Archaeology, the tomb was completely unexpected as it was not recorded in any Victorian guidebook to the church. The occupants' alleged royal connections may not have been appreciated during the 19th century.

The rediscovery of George III's descendents in Carmarthen is now thought to explain the presence of a magnificent 18th century organ built for the royal chapel of St George's, Windsor, but which the king sent instead to Carmarthen in 1796. Previously, historians thought the organ arrived through the influence of John Nash, George's favourite architect, who had carried out some restoration work in the church.

The story of George's marriage to Hannah, although the subject of historical debate, raises intriguing questions about the legitimacy of the House of Windsor. George Rex refused to marry the mother of his sons and made a point of asserting in his will that all his offspring were illegitimate. This raises speculation that he had been warned off marriage by the British establishment. His descendents still live in South Africa.

Is the marriage story true? Harold Brooks-Baker of Burke's Peerage is reported to believe it is. However, because the marriage was not recognised by the Royal Family it was only `quasi-legitimate' and there is no question, he has said, of changing the line to the throne.

In addition to the `royal' vault, archaeologists also excavated a vault containing what is thought to be the head of playwright and essayist Sir Richard Steele (1672-1729), founder of The Tatler. The dramatist's grave was found in 1876 when the tiled floor was laid. Victorian officials removed the head and reburied it in an engraved lead box. Contemporary accounts record that the skull was found in remarkable condition, complete with a wig tied at the back with a black bow.