Notes on the crypt and bones of Hythe Church / by H.D. Dale and F.G. Parsons.

  • Dale, Herbert D.
Date:
1904
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Notes on the crypt and bones of Hythe Church / by H.D. Dale and F.G. Parsons. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    ;3i) race has increased in the last three or four centuries. In sininiiiiig up the above evidence it is veiy iiii})ortant to keep a fair perspective, and not to })lace undue reliance on any one clue. Let us first think out the most probable origin of a collection of bones under a church. Undoubtedly it is that as the churchyard got full, in digging fresh graves the old bones dug up were stored ill a charnel-house. This was (piite a common piTictice in England and on the Continent, and must have taken place in Hythe, since the Churclivard was not neaiTv as laro’e formerly as it noAv is. In addition to this, there Avere prob- ably other churchyards in HaTIig, and AA'lien these came to be used for other purposes it Avould be reasonable to sipipose that the bones dug up Avould be transferred to the only remain- ing church. It seems to me quite probable that this is the someAAdiat |)rosaic history of at least a considerable number of these bones, and if the injuries are spade and ])ick marks, as they pi'obably are, it adds to the likelihood of tliis. Something more, however, is needed to account for* the large proportion of men betAveen tAventy and fifty ; ages AvTiich, from the small mortality