Abbot's kneecap returned 70 years after being stolen

An abbot's kneecap which was "quietly pocketed" by a schoolboy on a school trip to Glastonbury Abbey more than 70 years ago has been returned to Somerset.

George Box was just 11 when he ducked under the ropes during an archaeological dig at the abbey in 1956 and "helped himself" to a bone from an opened tomb.

Kept for decades in a glass cabinet at his home in Australia, the odd souvenir has finally been brought back to Glastonbury by his widow this summer following his death in 2025.

Lucy Newman, from the abbey, said they are not sure which abbot the bone belonged to but if they did excavate to reunite it with its owner they might end up "giving another abbot three kneecaps".

Glastonbury Abbey is a scheduled monument, and was linked in medieval legend to Joseph of Arimathea - the man who buried the body of Jesus Christ in the New Testament - and the burial place of King Arthur.

Newman, said it was towards the end of last year that they received "quite a surprise" in their general inquiries inbox.

"We get all sorts of weird and wonderful requests via that [email] but this was quite a standout one," she said.

"[George's] widow contacted us because she was making arrangements to come back and spread some of his ashes where he had grown up - around Brent Knoll."

But it wasn't just his ashes she was planning to bring back – she also wanted to return the kneecap her "scallywag" husband had "helped himself to".

Newman said "it was quite a surprise" but the date she was given matched the time of a large archaeological dig at the site where the tombs of several abbots had been opened up.

She said the young schoolboy must have slipped his hand into an open tomb when nobody was watching and "just sort of helped himself" - not only to the bone but to a fragment of medieval floor tile as well.

"Both things are very easy to pick up and put in a pair of schoolboy shorts," she said.

"[And] as a child he never told anyone what he had done."

In 1970, George emigrated to Australia where the abbot's kneecap and tile took pride of place in a little glass cabinet in his hallway.

But it was only after he confessed to his wife "about exactly how he'd come by them" that he finally agreed that both artefacts should be returned.

"He didn't want it to happen until he'd passed away - I think maybe [it was] embarrassment," said Newman.

Although it is not known who the kneecap belonged to, abbey staff have managed to narrow it down to three possible candidates who all died between 1250 and 1290.

But, Newman said, the only way they would be able to find out is by "exhuming them all and seeing how many knee bones they all have".

"The photographs we've got of the [excavated] tombs - we don't know whether they were taken before or after a schoolboy climbed in and helped himself to a bone," she added.

"And an excavation could disturb more archaeology than would benefit from an abbot being reunited with his kneecap."

Although the abbey does not condone mischievous schoolboys taking bits of archaeology from the site, Newman said "given the amount of time that has gone by" there is a "bit of an amnesty".

"It's also quite nice that the knee bone has been all the way to a country that 13th Century abbots had absolutely no idea existed," she added.

"Lots of our abbots travelled extensively in Europe, they would go to Rome and places like that, but he's certainly now the most travelled."

The abbot's kneecap and tile fragment are currently on display in the abbey's museum.

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