Ancient human remains uncovered during a 2019 kitchen renovation at a home in Wye, Kent, were formally re-interred in August 2026, and the discovery had prompted a police investigation, SWNS reported.
SWNS reported Ross Sledger, 49, was at work in spring 2019 when a builder unearthed bones in the backyard. Specialists later identified the remains as Anglo-Saxon and estimated them to be roughly 1,000 years old, the report said.
About 48 hours after the initial discovery, specialists concluded the bones were ancient and not related to a modern-day crime, SWNS reported. Around 10 officers attended the scene while investigators searched the property and later found remains from a second individual.
The finds included a femur, two skulls, ribs, part of a pelvis and fragments of a humerus and finger bones, SWNS reported. “They thought it was a crime scene,” Sledger told SWNS.
Sledger told SWNS he later uncovered additional fragments while installing artificial grass, which briefly raised concerns about renovation delays. After the police inquiry ended, the remains were transferred to a historical society and then to a local vicar as officials arranged a final resting place.
At the August 2026 re-interment ceremony at a church near Sledger’s home, the vicar chose the hymn “Jerusalem,” SWNS reported.
The article noted other recent finds in the U.K.: a Hampshire couple uncovered a hoard of 70 historic English coins in 2020 that sold at auction in November 2025 for more than £380,000.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
