New research suggests that the ancient coffin was repurposed in the 10th or 11th century to hold the remains of an abbot who had overseen the London monastery

October 21, 2026 4:34 p.m.

The Roman sarcophagus is on view in the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries at Westminster Abbey. Dean and Chapter of Westminster

When Arthur Penrhyn Stanley , the dean of Westminster Abbey , returned home after an 1869 trip to Italy, he was surprised to learn that in his absence, workers at the centuries-old London church had stumbled upon a limestone sarcophagus “belonging to the same epoch and nation as the great city which I had just quitted.”

The find presented a mystifying puzzle: How did a seemingly ancient coffin end up in a medieval abbey? And whose body was buried inside it?

Stanley detailed his study of the sarcophagus in an 1870 journal article .…