The man with two tombs

Used with permission

Every week when Matthew Silverman sings at St Mary’s Redcliffe Church in Bristol he sees two tombs for the same man – William Canynges. He wants to find out why one person would have two tombs.

Jonathan starts by looking at the tombs themselves. On one of the tombs Canynges and his wife are dressed as wealthy merchants, but the other tomb is of him alone, dressed in priest’s robes and at his feet is the carving of a Moor’s head. They are definitely of the same man.

Miranda interviews Peter Fleming, a medieval historian, who reveals how wealthy and influential Canynges was. Jonathan meets up with city archaeologist Bob Jones to track down William Canynges’ house which, today, is hidden behind a bin park.

Nick takes a look at the Latin inscription on Canynges tomb. It tells him that Canynges was Mayor five times and that he then went into the church. Most importantly he finds the date of his death.

While Jonathan investigates huge networks of medieval storage cellars where merchants like Canynges stored their goods, Nick visits the remains of a medieval ship in Newport.

Nick finds a document which reveals that Canynges was being put under pressure by the King to remarry after the death of his wife. Canynges took up priestly orders as the Dean of Westbury in haste, preventing him being able to remarry.

Jonathan goes to Westbury church. There he finds the effigy of a Moor’s head which is exactly the same as that on the second tomb in Bristol. It appears that the second tomb may at one point have been in Westbury church.

So one is a real tomb and one is simply a monument. The question is which is which?