In 2011 a group of Wykehamists dug up a
human body beside New Hall. The police were
called, and excitement mounted. As the search of
the area widened, four more skeletons were
eventually discovered.
I meet up with the exuberant James Cassir (I, 2007-12)
to tell me all about it. Happily, it seems a bone expert
from Winchester University was able to confirm that
none of the men or staff were suspects, as the remains
had been in the ground since around AD 1300.
In fact, James explains, the bones were not
unexpected, as he and a large group of people had
been excavating the site for a while, and stumbling
across human remains was always a possibility.
The project really began back in 2010, when the
indefatigable History don, Dr Peter Cramer (Co Ro,
1993-), applied the defibrillators to the ancient but
moribund Arch Soc, and started recruiting men to
join. James was studying History, History of Art,
and Jacobean English for his Pre-U exams, and was
keen to get to know more about the physical world
of the past. So he signed up.
Dr Cramer suggested that Arch Soc’s first dig should
be the medieval College of St Elizabeth, which lay
undisturbed within the School grounds. So James
went to work in his spare time, mining everything
there is to know about St Elizabeth’s. He is, in every
sense, a doer with an insatiable curiosity about all
aspects of the past, and not just what comes from
books. For instance, I have seen some amazing
photographs of possibly the only extant replica of
England’s medieval Exchequer Board, which James
built in Mill, and exhibited in Mob Lib. He is that
kind of historian. Passionate.
To piece together the history of St Elizabeth’s,
James spent many happy hours in the College
Archives, and also at the Hampshire Record Office,
eventually obtaining leave to conduct additional
research on St Elizabeth’s as part of his timetabled
Community Service. By the time the dig started in
summer 2012, James knew more about what they
were all looking for than anyone else.
As I stand on the site, I try to picture what this part
of “the soke” of Winchester lo