Medieval remains to be reburied at church

The remains of 66 people discovered during flood management work, including a woman whose face was digitally reconstructed, are to be reburied.

The medieval skeletons were found at Holy Trinity Kendal Parish Church in Kendal, Cumbria, when the Environment Agency (EA) started work in 2022.

On Friday, the remains including those of the woman named Agnes in a public vote, will be brought to the Bellingham Chapel where residents can pay their respects ahead of a private reburial.

Eight caskets containing the remains will be in the chapel and open to the public on Saturday, from 09:00 BST to 16:00, Sunday, from 12:30 to 16:00 and Monday, from 09:00 to 16:00.

The 66, including adults and children, were found clustered around the edge of the churchyard, beneath a boundary wall where they have been for up to 900 years, the EA said.

Radiocarbon dating showed the remains dated from the 11th to 13th Centuries.

Although most of the skeletons were crushed because they had been beneath the churchyard wall for centuries, the woman's skull was in good enough condition for a reconstruction of what she might have looked like.

She was named Agnes - The Kendal Woman by the public.

The Rev Canon Shanthi Peiris said: "It has been humbling to discover something about the lives of those who were members of the church family here so many years ago."

Mayor of Kendal and Liberal Democrat councillor Richard Sutton said: "It is good to know that the medieval remains shortly to be reinterred at the parish church are being treated with the utmost dignity and respect, after being disturbed by essential flood works.

"While improving our town's flood defences it is crucial we respect the historic fabric of Kendal, including its former inhabitants."

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