A MEDIEVAL knight may have been uncovered following a major project at Hereford Cathedral.

Archaeology firm Headland is nearing the end of its Heritage Lottery-funded project, which looked at 2,500 burials which were excavated from the cathedral’s close between 2009 and 2011.

Since then, detailed studies have been carried out on the 710 most complete skeletons, providing glimpses of life from the Norman Conquest through to the 19th century.

One individual is believed to be a knight- the interpretation is based on a number scientific observations.

Andy Boucher, who managed the post excavation work, said: “Obviously we can never be sure how people came about their wounds, but in this case there is a considerable amount of evidence suggesting this man was involved in some form of violent activity and the locations of his injuries do match quite closely what might be expected from taking part in mock battles.

“The fact that he was still doing this after he was 45 suggests he must have been very tough.”

The knight has numerous fractures, but all to ribs and the shoulder on the right side.

Some of these had healed while others hadn’t, showing they were caused on more than one occasion, also indicating that at death he hadn’t recovered from his latest wounds.

He had an unusual twisting break to his left lower leg. These wounds are all consistent with injuries that can be sustained through tourney or jousting.

They also know from analysis of his teeth that the man was likely to have been brought up in Normandy and moved to Hereford later in life.

Although they know he was over 45, they do not know an exact age. Mr Boucher said: "Once you get to 45 you can't tell because there is no cut and dry changes in bones beyond that."

They also discovered from the medieval graves that almost all the men were not local and had lived somewhere else, while all the women were.

Mr Boucher said: "In the medieval period there was a tax break- if you were a man who married a local woman you didn't pay taxes."

A book about the discoveries from this work, Death in the Close – A Medieval Mystery, is due to be published late spring/early summer 2015 and will be available from the cathedral shop.