One Kent church has a rather surprising feature in its crypt. While St Leonard’s Church in Hythe may look like a typically English church, for just £5 (or £1 for children) you can head down into its crypt, where there are over 1,000 skulls on display. St Leonard’s is home to the largest and best-preserved collection of ancient human skulls and bones in Britain, making it one of only two English churches with a surviving ossuary, or bone store, the other being Holy Trinity church in Rothwell, Northamptonshire.

With an estimated 1,200 skulls, it’s believed that the ossuary holds the remains of around 2000–4000 individuals. It’s unclear just how all of these skeletons ended up in this one crypt, with the first reference to them dating from 1678, although it’s thought they had been there for a while before then.

Writing in 1678, Samuel Jeake, then Town Clerk of Rye, described an “orderly pile of dead men’s bones” located in the church’s charnel house.

The current theory as to the bones’ origin is that they belonged to residents of Hythe who were buried in the graveyard but then moved when the church expanded. However, there a too many bones for just Hythe residents so either they came from other, nearby graveyards or elsewhere.

In the 1700s one theory stated that these bones came from Danish pirates slain in a battle, while one hundred years later some suggested that many of the bones came from men who fell in the 1066 Battle of Hastings.

However, in recent years, these theories have been questioned after a 2009 osteologists’ project discovered that the majority of bones in the ossuary came from women. And tragically, around 10% came from children.

There has been no accurate evidence as to the dates of death for these people either, by estimates suggest that the majority likely died in the 12th or 13th centuries, with some perhaps as late as the 15th century.

The church itself was built in the 11th century and later expanded in the 13th century when a chancel was added to the building. This is suggested as the reason the bones were moved to the crypt.

The ossuary at St Leonard’s is open from 1 until 30 September 2025 Monday to Saturday 11.00am to 1.00pm and 2.00pm to 4.00pm and Sundays 2.00 to 4.00pm. For more information visit the St Leonard’s Parish website.