A dozen unidentified skeletons have been discovered in a broom cupboard at Sellack Church, near Ross-on-Wye.

Work to install lavatory facilities to make the church fit for the 21st century, lead to the discovery of a sealed crypt in the Pengethley Chapel and several bodies were also uncovered in a broom cupboard in the bell tower at this ancient church. They were thought to have been buried about 600 years ago, before the bell tower was built.

Members of the congregation prayed for the souls of the people who had been buried close to what would at that time have been the boundary of the church at the Sunday Service. Patrick Darling, the Church Warden at St Tysilio said that the members hope that they would be happy to see the church they once attended being improved, updated and still loved and used." He also assured the Ross Gazette that once the work has been completed, and the archeologists have completed a report on the finds, they will be reinterred at a suitable ceremony and with due dignity by the vicar.

Read the full story of these discoveries in next week’s Ross Gazette