A group of scientists from Oxford University, which is researching ancient relics from churches in England, studied hair from Romsey Abbey in Hampshire.
The Benedictine Abbey in Romsey was founded in 907, and in 1539, when the monasteries were closed by Henry VIII, it was converted into a parish church and retains this status to this day. In 1839, workers digging a grave in a church cemetery unexpectedly stumbled upon a lead coffin. When it was opened, it turned out that there were no bones left inside, except for one finger, which immediately crumbled to dust from the touch. But female hair with fragments of scalp is well preserved. Since then, the hair found has been kept in the church as a relic, since it was assumed that it may belong to Saint Ethelflede, the founder and first patroness of the abbey, or to its first abbess, Saint Morwenne.
Recently, small fragments of this relic were taken by scientists for analysis. The combination of gas chromatography with mass spectrometry revealed that the hair was covered with pine resin. It is not yet clear if the resin was a hair care product during the lifetime of the owner or was used in a funeral ritual. Radiocarbon dating indicated that the bearer of the hair died between 895 and 1123, most likely between 965 and 1045. According to the content of stable isotopes, it was established that the woman ate a lot of fish. This corresponds to life according to the rules of the monastic community. Confirms the hypothesis that she was one of the inhabitants of the monastery, and the place of burial. The tomb was located on the spot where the southern transept of the previous church building was located, just opposite the door intended for the abbess. Scientists do not excludethat the remains really belong to Ethelflede, however, in this case, it is not clear why her burial was forgotten and not revered.