Haverfordwest: Seventeen skeletons found at shopping centre dig

The remains of 17 bodies have been found by archaeologists excavating a site in the heart of a shopping centre.

The Dyfed Archaeological team believe they were burials linked with the medieval Friary of St Saviours.

The exploration in Haverfordwest followed plans to redevelop the site.

This led to archaeologists digging exploratory trenches and finding walls, drains and items like high quality wall and floor tiles, believed to be from France.

Measuring about 40m long and 12m wide, it is thought the Friary, in Pembrokeshire, occupied a riverside site about 200m long.

The Friary was established on an earlier site but moved to this site in 1258.

It was home to eight Blackfriars - Dominican monks - and with gifts from landowners, lords and even royalty, became extremely wealthy which might have been a major factor in Henry VIII's decision to dissolve it in the 1530s.

The Friars saw their mission as preaching and helping the poor and sick.

"The site is like a layer cake," explained site supervisor Andrew Shobbrook.

"There were remains of the former shop, evidence of an iron foundry and below that the remains of the Friary."

The skeletons found were buried in shrouds and one shroud pin has been unearthed.

The remains will be scientifically analysed and eventually re-buried in consecrated ground.

Another site supervisor Tom Jamieson explained: "It gets exciting when you start finding things.

"[We] did an initial check last October with the site simply covered by the remains of a demolished shop. But an exploratory trench found just one medieval tile which gave us hope. It showed there was evidence of an earlier medieval period under all this."

Work started in February and is due to finish in June. The archaeological team expects to have investigated up to 2m in depth, down to the original gravel.

Eventually the site will be redeveloped as a three-storey food emporium with a bar and rooftop terrace.