What began as a childhood impulse in 1956 has turned into an unusual heritage story linking Glastonbury Abbey and Australia. During a school visit, 11-year-old George Box reportedly slipped past the barriers at an excavation site and took a medieval floor tile fragment and a human kneecap from an open tomb.
The objects stayed with him for nearly seven decades. After Box later moved to Australia, the bone and tile were displayed in a cabinet among fossils and other collected curiosities. In later years, he agreed they should be sent back to Glastonbury after his death, and the kneecap has now been returned to the abbey.
Abbey staff matched the timing of Box's school trip with the 1956 excavation records, which focused on tombs in the north transept. The most likely candidates for the bone's original owner are three medieval abbots: Michael of Amesbury, Robert of Petherton, and John of Taunton. Still, the exact identity remains uncertain, and the abbey has chosen not to disturb the burials further.
The story also reflects the layered history of Glastonbury Abbey itself, one of Britain's most famous monastic sites. Founded in the early medieval period, it later became associated with powerful legends and archaeological intrigue. Today, the returned kneecap and tile fragment are part of the abbey museum's collection, offering a rare glimpse into how historical artifacts can travel through time in unexpected ways.
As heritage institutions continue to preserve and reinterpret the past, stories like this may inspire new ways of connecting memory, archaeology, and public history in the future.
