GORINCHEM – During the renovation of four buildings on the Pig market in Gorinchem is the cemetery of a former Franciscan or Franciscan monasteryr uncovered. The first coffins with skeletons were found at the end of last week and since then 31 graves have been cleared.
Research into the cemetery of the Franciscan monastery on the Varkenmarkt
The bones are temporarily stored and may be examined by an expert at a later date, after which they will probably be buried in a bone pit in a cemetery.
The coffins were found next to each other on an area of approximately ten by thirty meters. Because the entire area in and behind the buildings has been investigated, it is expected that no further remains will be found.
There is a suspicion that buildings in the area and the paving of the Varkenmarkt itself still cover parts of the cemetery. Martin Veen of the Archaeology Working Group says that there are indications for this. "A kind of air raid shelter was built on the square during the war. It is known that children walked around with bones at that time."
Construction workers came across the crates of bones last week while driving piles for the conversion of four buildings into a brasserie and upstairs apartments. At that time, piles had already gone straight through a few crates. The client, the Stichting Stadsherstel Gorinchem (SSG), immediately called in the archaeologists who were working fifty meters further on the Happy Corner to be engaged in excavations.
One by one, the coffins were cleared early this week. Some were full of water. The find has no great archaeological value, because apart from the simple wooden coffins and the bones, no material was found, not even remains of clothing.
Good to eat
"However, we can deduce from the bones that the monks were not doing badly. The dilapidated state - an indication that they were getting old - and the length of some skeletons - up to 1,80 meters - indicate that they had good food," says Pieter Floore, archaeologist at the Amsterdam Institute for Pre- and Protohistory.
According to city archivist AJ Busch, the cemetery dates from before 1572. In that year, the monastery of the Franciscans (also known as Friars Minor) was closed, by order of the Protestant Geuzen who had taken over the city. After that, no more burials took place. Seven years later, the building was demolished.
According to Busch, the monastery provided shelter to a number of the 19 fathers and priests who were hanged on July 9, 1572 and became known as the Martyrs of Gorcum.
The Dordrecht resident
May 2, 1996