The Mysterious ‘Wolf’ Burial at the Abbey of St Edmund

In the 1840s, workmen, trying to alleviate drainage issues around the Norman Tower at Bury St Edmunds, began to dig down to medieval street level. To this day the impressive tower sits within the trench they created. The workmen discovered “about 20” animal skulls nine feet away from the towers wall, in the direction of St James’ Church, now the Cathedral.

According to contemporary reports, the skulls were sent to Professor Richard Owen of the Royal College of Surgeons, perhaps best known for coining the word ‘dinosaur’, who reported back: “they are all of the Wolf, with the exception of one skull, which is of a large Dog.” It’s worth noting that Professor Owen is considered a bit of a charlatan, famed for wild theories and assertions.

Differentiating between wolves and dogs is still problematic to this day, as I recently found when seeking scientific assistance in definitively identifying the skulls. Both visually and through forensic analysis, the animals are too closely related to give definitive answers. A further issue being the long-term handling and display of the objects, both of which hindering the organic make-up of the specimens. Thus, part of the mystery remains whether they are dogs, wolves, or a collection comprising both. Only three intact skulls remain within the museum service.

A local hunter, owing money to the Abbey, settled debts by killing wolves (pests).

Or perhaps a celebrated hunting hound of the Abbey buried with his trophy kills. But considering the prime location next to the VIP entrance to one of the great Christian sites this seems unlikely.

Some dogs were incredibly well treated within abbeys/priories. Maybe this is a pet cemetery. 80s horror fans calm down! Why would you sever the heads of a beloved pet!

Maybe former guard dogs of the Norman Tower still keeping watch?

Cute, but unlikely. And again, why only the skulls?

My personal favourite and suggestion. There is an interesting site at Cheia, Romania, where a grave was being excavated. The grave was desecrated by robbers almost contemporaneous to its creation 2000 years ago. Thieves, it seems to archaeologists, placed an assumed wolf skull on a pile of stones facing into the circular gravesite.

It is believed that the wolf (or dog) was meant to stop the rising dead seeking revenge.

This doesn’t fit perfectly to our Christian site, but it does lead you consider protection/guarding.

The pose of our skulls at Bury St Edmunds was not reported, but their direction would have been interesting – perhaps they guard the sleeping souls within the Abbey, or symbolically protect the gate against the evil outside. East Anglia is no stranger to ritual deposits, nor was the rest of England, with the post-medieval period seeing animal remains placed in walls, within hearths, and under floorboards; cats perhaps the most infamous. Many ritual deposits and protective curses, like Bartmann (aka Bellarmine) jugs filled with the assumed ingredients of charms, were placed near or at the entrance of buildings to protect from spiritual attacks from outside. The location for our skulls makes more sense if we consider this context, and both wolf and hound have been symbols of protection, and/or threat, throughout history. Locally, this also fits with King Edmund’s severed head being ‘guarded’ by a wolf in his own legend; though if true let’s be honest that’s lunch not loyalty!

The wolf as a symbol might seem problematic in history. A pest hunted to extinction in medieval England, yet frequently appears within heraldry of the time as symbolic of courageous endeavour, perseverance in long sieges, and hard work. Medieval depictions of dogs could symbolise protection, loyalty, faithfulness, alertness; with hounds also used as a display of good knightly values and chivalry. To a certain extent, whether great or small, these ideas of protection and alertness at the main gate of our fortified Abbey seem a better, if perhaps not perfect, fit for our study.

All speculative, but the debate has been ongoing since their 1846 discovery, and Professor Owen’s 1848 suggestion. The skulls continue to be some of the most popular artefacts for our staff and visitors alike. The debate rages on!

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