UK - Priory dig unearths skeletal sex scandal

A series of "very unusual burials" were found at the site, including a woman found in a face down position, another who was a victim of blunt force trauma to the back of the head, and a stillborn child.

"It's unusual for someone so young to be buried within the church," Paul Murray, from John Moore Heritage Services, said.

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The priory had a controversial history. In her book Medieval English Nunneries, Eileen Power describes it as “in such grave disorder that it might justly be described as one of the worst nunneries of which records survived.
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A further visit in 1518 bore more scandal, with complaints the prioress “played and romped” with boys in the cloister and that after she was placed in the stocks she was rescued by three nuns who broke down the door, burned the stocks and smashed a window to escape.

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Murray believes the lady's unusual position may have been a penitential act by those who buried her, in the hope it would atone for her sins.

Such burials, dubbed 'prone burials', are usually reserved for witches or sinners.

The priory was surrounded by scandal in its final years, with some nuns being accused of 'immoral and lewd' behaviour.

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