A medieval metal whip which monks once used to flog themselves has been discovered in Nottinghamshire.
Archaeologists unearthed the strange find at Rufford Abbey in 2014 but have only just realised its origins after testing.
Known as a scourge, it would have been used in the fourteenth century by people who chose to chastise themselves as a form of punishment or to cleanse their soul.
The implements became common following the devastation of the Black Death plague outbreak.
Pieces of the whip, made from woven copper-alloy wires, were discovered during a dig underneath the meadow at the Abbey, near Ollerton.
Picture: Emily Gillott with a metal re-creation of the whip and the original medieval pieces
John Knight, of Nottinghamshire County Council’s culture committee, said: “This is another fascinating discovery which helps us to build a picture of what life could have been like for the monks living in the Abbey during the dark days of the Black Death.”
Eagle-eyed archaeologists Emily Gillott and Lorraine Horsley noticed similarities with a scourge on display at Rievaulx Abbey in Yorkshire and experts have since confirmed the exciting news.
Glyn Coppack, a medieval specialist, hailed the find as “exceptional.”
Picture: Monks practising self-flagellation with whips in a medieval carving
He added: “There must be a number of unidentified scourges from monastic excavations, but apart from the one at La Grava [in Yorkshire] I have not seen any others myself, I suspect they are very rare indeed.”
Rufford Abbey, first built in the twelfth century, now part of a country park, attracts around 350,000 visitors each year.
Records suggest people living in the area around the Abbey were badly affected by the plague, as wool trade profits plummeted in the 1300s.
Picture: Rufford Abbey today
