[image error] The secrets of the grave are often best left exactly where they are but in the eighteenth century, as a new age of antiquarianism dawned, there was a sudden craze for investigating the contents of ancient tombs in churches and cathedrals. It led in one case to the remarkably unsavoury discovery of the secret behind a strange preservation.

Following the successful 'opening' of the tomb of Edward I in Westminster Abbey in 1774, in which the king was found to be richly dressed and crowned, with h...