Hythe, St Leonard's Church, The Charnel House 1903
Photo ref:
50381A
More about this scene
Beneath the church is an ambulatory, which contains a collection of human remains. Macabre though this seems, the practice was not uncommon during the Middle Ages, though few such collections exist today. The skulls and bones here pictured make up the remains of some 4,000 people, which are thought to have been disinterred from old graves to make way for new. Most of the remains seem to date from between the 12th and 15th centuries, though some may be up to 300 years older. What is particularly puzzling about the skulls is that they have marked Italian characteristics. It has been suggested that a pocket of Romano-Britons lived in the Hythe area for centuries after the departure of the Romans who had little to do with their Saxon neighbours. In time, their characteristics died out as the population mingled with newcomers during the Middle Ages.
An extract from Hythe, Romney Marsh and Ashford Photographic Memories.
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Hythe, Romney Marsh and Ashford Photographic Memories
The photo 'Hythe, St Leonard's Church, the Charnel House 1903' appears in this book.
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