ROMAN COFFIN LIDS GO ON DISPLAY IN NORTH YORKSHIRE

English Heritage is putting three rare coffin lids on display for the first time at its store in Helmsley, North Yorkshire, after solving a riddle that has defied archaeologists for the past three decades.

The heavyweight relics, excavated from Wharram Percy Deserted Medieval Village, near Malton, were used for the burial of a high-status Viking family, but experts have now discovered they entombed Romans up to 800 years earlier.

Unearthed at Wharram 30 years ago as part of Britain’s longest running dig (1950-1990), the re-used coffin lids concealed the burials of a child up to five years old, a female in her early twenties and a male aged between 40 to 50, found in the churchyard and dating between 1060 to 1160.

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