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Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume V, Issue 115, 19 May 1853, Page 3

Antiquarian Discovery .—Some time ago, in clearing out the ruins of an old chapel at Nuneham Regis, in Warwiekshire, England, which had been pulled down, all but the helliy lower, almul I'orly years siiin:, wo llionylil il iiLcex-aiv lo licuili llie whole

■ space, that wc miglit more certainly mark out the boundaries of the building, as wc wished to restore it, in some measure, to its former slate. It had been used as a stackyard and a depository or rubbish, by the tenants of the farm on which it was, ever ', since its dilapidation. We began to trench at the west end, and came on a great many ! bones and skeletons from which the collins j bad crumbled away, till, finding ihc earth ! bad been moved, wc went deeper and disi covered a leaden coflin, quite perfect wilh- : out dale or inscription of any kind. There bad been an outer wooden collin, which was ; decayed, but quantities of the black retted wood were till around it. We cut the lead, and folded back Hie lop, so as not to destroy it. Beneath was a wooden collin, in good • preservation, and also without any inscription. As soon as the leaden lop was rolled • back, a most overpowering aromatic smell diffused ilself all over the place. We then unfastened ihc inner coflin, and found (lie body of a man embalmed with great care, and heaps of rosemary and aromatic leaves piled over him. On examining the body more closely, wc found it had been beheaded, the head was separately wrapped up in linen and ihc linen shirt that covered the body was drawn quite over the neck where the bead had been cut off. The head was laid straight with the body, and where the joining of ihc neck and head should' have been, it was lied round with a broad black riband. His hands were crossed on his breast, the wrists were tied together with black riband, and the thumbs were tied together with black riband. He had a peaked beard, and a quantity of long brown hair, curled and clotted with blood, round his neck; the only mark on anything about him was on ihc linen on his chest, just above where his hands were crossed; on it were the letters "T. U.," worked in black silk. On trenching towards ihc chancel, wc came on four leaden coflinslaid side by side, with inscriptions on each; one contained the body of Francis, Earl of Chichester, and Lord Dunsnnii'o, 1025; the next the body of Audrey, Countess of Chichester, 1092; another the body of Lady Audrey Leigh, their daughter, 1610: and ihc fourth, llie body of Sir John Anderson, son of Lady Chichester, by her first husband. Wc opened the coflin of Lady Audrey Leigh, and found her perfectly embalmed and in an entire preservation, her flesh quite plump, as if she were alive, her face very beautiful, her hands exceedingly small and not wasted; she was dressed in fine linen trimmed all over with old point lace, and two rows of lace were laid flat across her forehead. She looked exactly as if she were lying asleep, and seemed not more than 10 or 17 years old ; her beauty was very great; even her eyelashes and eye brows were quite perfect, and her eyes were closed ; no part of her face or figure was at all fallen in. Wc also opened Lady Chichester's collin, but wilh her the embalming had apparently failed ; she was a skeleton, though the coflin was hall full of aromatic leaves. Her hair, however, was as fresh as if she lived ; it was Jong, thick, and as soft and glossy as thai of a child, and of a perfect auburn color. In trenching on one side of where the altar had been wc found another leaden coffin with an inscription. It contained ibebody of a Dame Marie Ilrowne, daughter ofonc of the Leighs, and of the Lady Marie, daughter of one of the Lord Chancellor Hraekley. This body was also quite peiTcct, and embalmed principally with a small coffee colored seed, with which the coflin was nearly filled, and it also hadso powerful a perfume thai it filled the whole place. Tin: linen, ribands, elc, were quite strong and good in all these instances, and remained so alter exposure in the air; we kepi a piece out of each collin, and had it washed without its being at all destroyed. Young lady Audrey had earrings in her ears —black enamelled serpents. The perfume of the herbs and gums used in embalming them was so sickening that wc were all ill after inhaling it, and most of the men employed in digging up the collins were ill also.' My object in sending this account is, if pos- , sible, lo discover who llie beheaded man is. The chapel is on the estate of Lord John Scott, who inherited it from bis paternal grandmother, the Duchess of Iluccleucli, daughter of the Duke of Montagu, into whose family Nuneliaui Hcgis and oilier possessions in Warwickshire came, by the marriage of his grandfather wilh the daughter of Lord Diuisniorc, Karl of Chichester.— iXutcs and Queries.