Archaeologists excavating a church site in Oxford have found skeletons of nuns who died in disgrace after being accused of 'sex-crazed' behaviour.

Discovered during planned construction near Oxford United football stadium, the burial ground is over what used to be Littlemore Priory, a nunnery founded in 1110.

The skeleton of one lady was found face down, and researchers believe she may have been one of the infamous 'sinner nuns' who forced the nunnery to shut down in 1524.

Archaeologists excavating a church site in Oxford have found skeletons of nuns who died in disgrace after being accused of 'sex-crazed' behaviour. The skeleton of one lady was found face down, and researchers believe she may have been one of the infamous 'sinner nuns' who forced the nunnery to shut down in 1524.

Researchers led by Paul Murray of John Moore Heritage Services, found 92 skeletons of women, men and children.

The majority of the burials were females, at 35, with males accounting for 28. The researchers said it was impossible to determine the gender of the remaining 29.

'Burials within the church are likely to represent wealthy or eminent individuals, nuns and prioresses,' Murray said in a statement.

'Those buried outside most likely represent the laity and a general desire to be buried as close to the religious heart of the church as possible,' he added.

Researchers led by Paul Murray of John Moore Heritage Services, found 92 skeletons of women, men and children. Pictured is one of the unidentified skeletons found at the site

Some skeletons showed signs of health problems, including two children who suffered from severe limps, according to Discovery News.

One burial had signs of leprosy, while another included a stillborn baby in a well-made casket, and a woman buried in a face down position.

WHY WERE PEOPLE SOMETIMES BURIED FACE-DOWN? Archaeologists have excavated hundreds of bodies from around the world, buried face-down. The UK has the most of these 'prone burials' with more than 200 discovered so far. Experts once assumed these burials were accidental, but evidence is mounting that they were reserved for people accused of being sinners. In one study, in locations with several prone burials, the dead were often buried in shallow graves toward the edge of the cemetery, many without coffins. Those of low social status were also more likely to be buried face-down, while many would have their hands and feet tied, suggesting they were prisoners or criminals. Advertisement

Murray believes the lady's unusual position may have been a penitential act by those who buried her, in the hope it would atone for her sins.

Such burials, dubbed 'prone burials', are usually reserved for witches or sinners.

The priory was surrounded by scandal in its final years, with some nuns being accused of 'immoral and lewd' behaviour.

The latest prioress, Katherine Wells, for instance is believed an illegitimate daughter with the father being a priest who still visited her.

Eileen Power in her book Medieval English Nunneries describes the priory as 'one of the worst nunneries of which records survived' and this was 'largely due to a particularly bad prioress, Katherine Wells'.

Wells was also believed to have taken much of the priory's goods and pawned its valuables to provide the girl with a dowry.

Within the last year another of the nuns had had an illegitimate child whose father was a married man in Oxford.

A visitation carried out in 1445 describe the dormitory as 'so ruinous the nuns were afraid to sleep there' and 'that the nuns were sleeping two to a bed' with even the prioress having to share her bed.

In 1524 Thomas Wolsey, the Lord Chancellor, recommended that the priory be dissolved.

Transformed into a farmhouse, the priory might be incorporated into a new hotel being built at the site as a restaurant.