St Leonard's Church and Ossuary, Hythe

Hythe, Coast

Image: St Leonard's Church, Hythe

Image: St Leonard's Church, Hythe

St Leonard's has overlooked Hythe for nearly a thousand years and is known as the church with the bones, thanks to the ossuary in its crypt. Around a thousand skulls line the shelves alongside a huge stack of bones, the largest and best-preserved collection of its kind in Britain. It suits curious teens and history lovers and needs about an hour.

Highlights

• The largest and best-preserved collection of ancient human skulls and bones in Britain
• About 1,000 skulls on shelves in four arched bays
• A stack of bones 7.5 metres long, reassembled in 1910
• Historic graffiti in a church nearly a thousand years old

Good to know

• Ossuary visits are respectfully managed, so check the crypt page for the current times
• Research suggests the remains are mostly local people buried over a long period

Getting there