Visit to St Leonard’s Ossuary Hythe

On a recent camping staycation with my husband, parents and our combined three pooches to Folkestone Kent (about an hour’s drive from where I live) my Father was talking about how when he was a young boy with his parents he visited an amazing Church in Hythe which housed an astonishing collection of human bones. After a bit of Googling we discovered the Church was St Leonard’s (click for website) and we jumped in the car to go check it out.

Amazingly this little-known Church has the largest and best-preserved collection of ancient human bones and skulls in Britain consisting of 1,022 skulls on display in four shelved arches and a stack of long bones, pelvises and skulls measuring 7.5m in length, 1.8m in width and just over 1.8m in height.In total it is estimated that the collection represents around 2,000 people, however this is just an estimate as it is simply impossible to count them all.

First referenced in 1678 by Samuel Jeake, then Town Clerk of Rye who described St Leonard’s having ‘an orderly pile of dead men’s bones’ in the ‘charnel house’ on the north side of the church, this fascinating collection of remains has been studied over the years in order to determine where the bones came from, the ages and sexes of the remains as well exploring signs of diseases and injury visible on the bones.

I have to admit that I was worried about the ossuary being really spooky but my fears were unfounded. My father, husband and I were warmly welcomed in and given an introduction about the bones, the myths of where the bones came from as well as told a bit about the studies that have been undertaken. Some of the bones show fascinating signs of being damaged with re-growth visible which means that the person survived their ordeal and had started healing.

Of course my husband, the osteopath, really enjoyed examining the bones and looking for conditions he could recognise and name. On the other hand my father, the dentist, enjoyed looking at the display of jaws and teeth which were part of the collection. I found the collection of bones equally as interesting and found myself wondering who these people were and how they ended up in the Church.

If you’re looking for something a bit different to do and you’re in Kent then I really do recommend a visit to get a closer look at some of our ancestors and learn a bit of Kentish history at the same time. Of course you can also pop down to the beach, a short walk away, if you want to reflect on the wonders of sun shine and ice cream!