The majority of medieval burials at St Peter’s would have been simpler: bodies in shrouds, without coffins, without significant grave goods, in the common Christian manner of the period.

The relative elaborateness of Conquest Man’s burial, the oak coffin, the grave goods, the specific practices observed, sets him apart from the typical burial in the churchyard.

The careful archaeological treatment of the site, described in the published excavation volumes from 1978 through 2007, provides the comparative context for evaluating this.

Conquest Man’s burial is unusual within the corpus of what was found here.

It is not unique in world terms, coffined burial, Scandinavian practices, and church burial have all been documented elsewhere, but in the specific context of St Peter’s, it stands out.