A YORK-based textile expert has helped unravel an archaeological mystery, which began when a medieval coffin was unearthed in North Lincolnshire.

Penelope Walton Rogers, manager of Textile Research in Bootham Terrace, was asked to examine a piece of "crumbling brown debris" which was found on top of a woman's coffin in the 15th century St Peter's Church in Barton-upon-Humber.

The church has been in the care of English Heritage since 1978, and archaeological excavations have yielded a wealth of important information about the church and the people who worshipped there. Ms Walton Rogers used the same painstaking techniques as scientists in police investigations to discover that the shreds had once been a piece of cloth-of-gold velvet - a prestigious and valuable cloth of the 14th century used by royalty and the highest levels of the church.

However, the mystery of why the cloth was on top of the woman's coffin still remains. Ms Walton Rogers said: "We have no idea what this very expensive textile was doing there, whether it was placed there deliberately - or perhaps it was a kneeler from the church ... but that's archaeology."

Updated: 10:29 Saturday, February 23, 2002