The Thomas More Skull Project — Exhumation of a Saint
19th September 2025 by | UncategorizedInterview at St Dunstan’s, Canterbury, Kent 26 August 2025,
Gemma Morris-Conway meets church warden Sue Palmer at St Dunstan’s, Canterbury, to talk about stewardship, evidence, and the weight of a legacy — then traces how King Henry VIII’s might brought Thomas More to the scaffold.
Part One: In conversation with the warden
Canterbury in Kent is nestled between orchards, farmland and hop fields. Since the murder of Thomas Becket (archbishop of Canterbury Cathedral at the time) in the late 12th century it has been a firm route for pilgrims. In 1174, King Henry II stopped at St Dunstan’s on his way to pay penance for the murder of Thomas Becket four years earlier.
As you walk into this church, you are over welled with the layers of history that seem to emanate from the walls, silence surrounds you away from what is a busy city. And you would not be surprised if Geoffrey Chaucer was sitting in one of the pews penning a poem with a quill.
I sat with Sue Palmer, facing the likely tomb of Margaret and William Roper. Margaret was Sir Thomas More’s eldest daughter; in 1521 she married the Kentish lawyer William Roper. The identification is not absolutely certain: brass memorial plates disappeared sometime after 1640. Outside, a reminder of place endures: the Ropers’ house once stood directly opposite the church; only the gateway remains.
Sue has lived in Canterbury all her life and has served as warden at St Dunstan’s for seven. She works as a Science Technician at a local school. Beyond her day job, she is an expert in nineteenth-century clothes and costumes, with a particular interest in infant wear, and for the past three years she has travelled regularly to London as a licensed mudlark.
‘The 500th anniversary of More’s death is going to throw the spotlight on us and our church as a centre of worship, pilgrimage, education, and hospitality because the head is the only remaining relic of Thomas More — his body is interred somewhere in St Peter ad Vincula in the Tower of London — so St Dunstan’s Church is really important and the focus in 10 years’ time will very definitely be on us,’ Palmer told me.
On my last visit to the Tower of London, a senior Yeoman Warder confirmed that More’s body is in the crypt, in St Peter ad Vincula.
What the evidence shows: In 1997, when floor slabs were lifted during works in the church, in the vault area, parish photographs recorded a bag-shaped lead casket in situ within a purpose-built masonry recess. The casket shows a deliberate opening cut into the side. The parish identifies this casket as containing Sir Thomas More’s skull.
Whoever made this hole in the casket (many years ago) was perhaps seeking some relic, but letting air into this once-sealed casket has led to too much deterioration. If work is not done now to conserve what remains in the lead casket, all will be lost to time.
‘We know the skull has been here for hundreds of years, possibly since Margaret Roper’s death in 1544, and More’s grandson, Thomas Roper, in the time of Elizabeth I, made much of improving and supporting the Roper chapel within the church,’ Palmer further explained.
Sue also mentioned that the church has for many years had contact from individuals in India, the Philippines and the US, requesting they be sent relics, bone fragments or a tooth, requests that were tactfully dealt with, as whatever is now left of More stays within the sanctity of St Dunstan’s.
On condition and conservation:
‘When the lead casket was broken in some way it was clear the skull was no longer in one piece; there are fragments and a jawbone with one tooth socket. So that all work to be done would be to conserve and preserve what remains.’
On next steps under the Thomas More Skull Project:
‘Many have expressed a desire to have the relic preserved and possibly placed in a reliquary above ground rather than in a sealed vault as it is at present,’ Palmer said. ‘Conservation and the possible commissioning of a reliquary, as well as obtaining all the relevant permissions, will take time.’
The church of St Dunstan’s is not a rich church and has no benefactors, but at this stage they are not accepting donations towards this project and will only look for support once full permission for this conservation project has been approved. As soon as hopeful permission is grated the church will be seeking financial support.*
On purpose:
Palmer made it clear with her views .‘More is not a sideshow; the church’s main purpose is to allow pilgrims and worshippers of Jesus to come to the church for prayer, solace, and reflection.’
We also spoke about how culture shapes memory. Sue had recently seen a stage production of A Man for All Seasons. For many, the 1966 film remains their first encounter with More. Paul Scofield’s portrayal fixed an image of a man of God whose conscience would not bend to convenience. The title echoes Robert Whittington’s 1520 line praising More as ‘a man of an angel’s wit and singular learning … a man for all seasons’.
I asked Sue whether she would like to go down to the vault to see the casket herself, if approval is granted.
Somewhat breathless with anticipation, she said: ‘Oh yes; but of course, now one would have to wear a hazmat suit, as the vault is potentially damp and all kinds of dangers may lurk in the air. To the side of the vault lies a charnel pit, a communal repository for human bones, and there are other coffins from later periods of the Roper family.’
Evidence at a glance
• 1997 parish photographs: bag-shaped lead casket, in situ in the Roper vault recess; side opening visible.
• Parish identification: casket contains Sir Thomas More’s skull; condition includes fragments and a jawbone with one tooth socket.
• Presence attested since c1544; later, Thomas Roper supported improvements to the Roper chapel in Elizabeth I’s reign.
• The Ropers’ house stood directly opposite St Dunstan’s; the gateway survives.
• More’s body, we believe, is in the crypt of St Peter ad Vincula at the Tower of London.
Part Two: How the case against More led to the scaffold
Thomas More was born on 7 February 1478 in London, the son of John More. At Oxford in the early 1490s he was minded to the monastic life, but his father refused permission and steered him back to the law; he trained at New Inn and Lincoln’s Inn. He read the classics, learned Greek and Latin, and formed friendships with leading humanists, notably Desiderius Erasmus.
In 1505 More married Jane Colt. Their children were Margaret (‘Meg’), Elizabeth, Cecily and John. After Jane’s death in 1511 he married Alice Middleton, a widow. Margaret, the eldest, married William Roper in 1521.
At Chelsea, his household became a small academy; his daughters were educated alongside his son, unusual for the time. Mores book Utopia (1516) offered a sharp critique of European society and a vision of civic virtue that still provokes debate.
His public career moved swiftly: Under-Sheriff of London (1510); King’s Council (by 1517); Under-Treasurer of the Exchequer (1521); Speaker of the Commons (1523); Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1525); and, on Wolsey’s fall from grace in 1529, Lord Chancellor — the first layman in generations to hold the office.
Everything turned on the ‘Great Matter’. From 1527 Henry VIII sought an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon and, when Rome did not grant it, asserted royal supremacy over the English Church. More would not endorse that claim. He resigned the chancellorship in 1532, refused in 1534 to swear the oath that entailed recognising the royal supremacy, and was imprisoned in the Tower of London. Tried in July 1535, he was executed on 6 July 1535. To the headsman he said: ‘Pluck up thy spirits, man, and be not afraid to do thine office. I die the King’s good servant, but God’s first.’
A daughter’s courage. After sentence at Westminster Hall, accounts record that Margaret Roper broke through the armed guard to embrace and kiss her father as he was led back to the Tower.
From the scaffold to the bridge. In the 1500s and beyond, heads of those executed for treason were boiled and spiked above the approaches to London Bridge. Margaret went by boat — it was believed to the drawbridge gate — and secured her father’s head; accounts relate that a bribe changed hands. She carried it away wrapped and hidden. We understand that by that time it may have been on London Bridge for some weeks, but, despite the weather, and being, no doubt, fed on by birds, Margaret knew which head was her father’s; it must have been a gruesome sight.
Why Canterbury? The Roper family had holdings in Canterbury as well as at Well Hall, Eltham. Margaret was first interred in London; after William Roper’s death her remains were reinterred in the Roper family vault at St Dunstan’s so that husband and wife might lie together.
Key dates
• 1478 — Birth of Thomas More in London.
• 1490s – Study at Oxford; father John More dissuades a monastic vocation; legal training at New Inn and Lincoln’s Inn.
• 1510 — Under-Sheriff of London.
• 1517 — Member of the King’s Council.
• 1520 — Robert Whittington praises More as ‘a man of an angel’s wit … a man for all seasons’.
• 1521 — Under-Treasurer of the Exchequer; knighted; Margaret More marries William Roper.
• 1523 — Speaker of the House of Commons.
• 1525 — Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
• 1529 — Lord Chancellor (after Wolsey’s fall from grace).
• 1532 — Resignation as Lord Chancellor.
• 1534 — Refusal of the oath linked to the Act of Succession; imprisonment in the Tower.
• 6 July 1535 — Execution on Tower Hill; Margaret embraces her father after sentence and later retrieves the head from London Bridge.
• 1544 — Parish places the skull at St Dunstan’s; it may not be the certain date when the skull arrived in the church – religious tensions at the time were heightened in Elizabeth I’s reign, Thomas Roper improves and supports the Roper chapel.
• 1966 — Film A Man for All Seasons released; Paul Scofield’s portrayal shapes public memory.
– 1978 – vault opened on the 500th anniversary of More’s birth for an archaeological survey of the vault (though the niche with the skull wasn’t touched, just photographed from the front)
• 1997 — vault opened to enable a further photographic record, and a video to be made for the benefit of pilgrims. St Dunstan’s: parish photographs document a bag-shaped lead casket in situ in the Roper vault, identified by the parish as containing More’s skull.
• 2035 — Quincentenary of More’s execution.
This meeting was totally fascinating, and the church for sure has a spirit of soothing gentleness about it.
A tonic for the soul.
I would like to extend my thanks to Sue Palmer for her time as well as to the Reverend Jo Richards for her permission to meet Sue, and Mike’s bright and efficient communication in assisting with arranging my meeting.
