Human remains found in Haverfordwest search for St Saviours

The trust began digging at the site of the former Ocky Whites department store on Bridge Street back in February with hopes that they would find clues to the mysterious friary of St Saviours, which was known to be in the town, but no one knew exactly where.

There were signs a medieval friary used to exist in Haverfordwest with clues in the town such as pub Friars Vaults and street names such as Friars Lane, however there was no definite evidence of where the friary, dated back to the 13th century, actually was.

But when Pembrokeshire County Council acquired the old Ocky Whites and announced they were knocking it down to build the town's new food hall this gave Dyfed Archaeological Trust the chance to get underground and find out what exactly went on in the shadowy history of Haverfordwest.

What the trust has uncovered is skeletons, and lots of them.

The Ocky Whites building was situated on a 19th century blacksmiths and a burial ground dating back to the 1200s which is now producing hundreds of skeletal remains.

Extraordinarily, one-third of these remains are infants under the age of four.

Dyfed Arch Trust does not want to put a figure on it, but they will not be surprised if they hit 300 ancient corpses.

In a bizarre twist to this fascinating tail, a mysterious puncture wound has been found in one of the skulls excavated.

Archaeologists are not sure, but they believe it could be from a projectile fired at the corpse with its ears seeming to have been mutilated – the first suggestion of medieval warfare in the town.

Site manager Andrew Shobbrook saus the dig is a massive opportunity to look into Haverfordwest's past (Image: Newsquest)

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Some of the artefacts being found from a friary dating back to the 13th century (Image: Dyfed Archaeological Trust)

Site manager for the dig Andrew Shobbrook said this opportunity has given the team the first chance to look into medieval Haverfordwest.

“We are hugely grateful to Pembrokeshire County Council, Faithful and Gould, John Weaver Contractors, and all the volunteers for their help with the project,” said Mr Shobbrook.

“This is huge for us to find out more about the story of Haverfordwest. There has been very little archaeological extraction in the town and we are unearthing some fantastic finds.”

Artefacts found from a 19th century forge in Haverfordwest (Image: Newsquest)

The mysterious shield design the trust are trying to discover more about (Image: Newsquest)

The final piece in the jigsaw is the as-yet ‘unknown shield design’ found printed on an ancient piece of tile.

Mr Shobbrook made a callout to anyone who might know of the shield design which depicts three oak trees on a white shield.

The history behind St Saviour's friary (Image: Newsquest)

Do you know anything about the shield design? Get in touch with the Western Telegraph and let us know.

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