The gruesome discovery of a pit “filled to within inches of the top” with human remains was made in St Margaret’s Church, Rochester, when gas was being installed.

Skulls, bones and other remains of hundreds of people were unearthed beneath pews in the north aisle. The Gazette suggested the remains had been moved from the churchyard when the present church was being built.

And it added: “For a great number of years past a portion of the congregation must have been worshipping, Sunday after Sunday, over the pit.”

The remains were left in place and the hole hermetically sealed.

September 20, 1864, page 6