The Digital Library

The Human Remains Digital Library (HRDL) is an open access library of texts and archaeological records to assist Church policymakers, archaeologists, and researchers.

The open access digital library is now live, visit the HRDL website.

Access the HRDL GitHub for other resources, metadata, original language downloads, and coding.

Linguistic analysis of library entries can reveal what has historically been considered ‘respectful treatment’ of the dead, contextualising and guiding how we ‘respectfully’ conduct and record such disturbances today. Cutting-edge digital analysis of the language used to report past mortuary investigations and reburials can reveal what has historically been considered 'respectful treatment', offering context and advice for how we 'respectfully' conduct and record such disturbances today.

This new knowledge can anchor ethical, procedural, and religious debates in their historic contexts; advance histories of science, medicine, religion, law and death; and guide practices and policies from academic, Church, and heritage sectors as custodians of our inherited dead.

If you would like to contribute material for the library, volunteer to work on HRDL collections, or learn more about using the library for teaching, research, or other work, please contact remains@liverpool.ac.uk

Project publications

Costello, B. and Jenkins, J. (2023) ‘The Hospitaller preceptory of Slebech, Pembrokeshire: Interpreting social function and burial practice in the later Middle Ages’, Church Archaeology, 23, pp. 3-17

Farrow, T.J. (2023) Charnel-Associated Burial and Monuments in Late Medieval England: Henry Barton’s Effigy and its Afterlife at Old St Paul’s Cathedral. Church Archaeology 24, 25-46. URL: https://doi.org/10.3828/churcharch.2023.24.25

Gribomont, I. (2023). ‘OCR with Google Vision API and Tesseract’. Programming Historian,12. URL: https://programminghistorian.org/en/lessons/ocr-with-google-vision-and-tesseract

Nugent, R. (2020). ‘Burials in Churches’ in The Building Conservation Directory Special Report on Historic Churches: Twenty-Seventh Annual Edition. Eds. Taylor, J. Tisbury: Cathedral Communications. pp. 30-33. URL: https://www.buildingconservation.com/books/churches2020/30/index.html

Twineham, T., Nugent, R. (2021). ‘Mutford’s Unusual Chancel Poses Questions’. Ipswich: The Round Tower Churches Society. URL: https://elements.liverpool.ac.uk/viewobject.html?cid=1&id=522944

Project publications (forthcoming)

Cahilly-Bretzin, G. (forthcoming in 2025) Ibique Solenniter est Recondita: Saint Wærburh, Relic Theft, and the Appropriation of Translation Narratives in Medieval Britain. Journal of Medieval History 51

Nugent, R., Farrow, T.J., and Foster, K. (forthcoming in 2024) ‘Encountering Human Remains Inside Historic Churches’ in Emplaced Belief: Heritage & Religion Reconsidered. Eds. Berghahn.