GRUESOME FIND

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21763, 31 March 1934, Page 2 (Supplement)

GRUESOME FIND

SKELETONS IN FIELD 1 Twenty human skeletons, all lying face downward, wore discovered recently by four workman building a private road at Hainault Nursery, Nazeing, Essex. Mr. G. H. Lapwood, owner of the nursery, said the skeletons were all found in a stretch of land 30ft. to 40ft. in length. Ho added: " They were all at a depth of between Ift. and 15in., and, apart from being face downward, did not soem to bo in any particular order. Most were in a jumbled heap, many with logs crossed. They were in good condition, though directly the air got at them the joints seemed to part. There was no trace of flesh. One was about Bft. long, but others seemed to be the skeletons of youths, women and children under adult size. I imagine they must have been there for hundreds of years. " Tho ground is meadow land, half a-mile from a road and, so far as I know, has never been disturbed beforcI imagine that the bodies were thrown on tho open land and then covered over with earth. Possibly they were tho victims of the plague—although there is no record that bodies were brought this far from London.

" I was amazed at the beauty of the teeth —all pearly white and free from any decay. They were finer teeth than 1 have over seen in a living man's head." The field is not far from the River Lea. The Danes are believed to have penetrated far up the river. .Another theory hero is that the skeletons may he thoso of invading Danes. Mr. Lapwood informed the police, and at their request most of the skeletons have been locked up in a shed. A inspected them. One skeleton has been left only partly unearthed and covered over with boards for inspection by experts.