TWO-HUNDRED-YEAR-OLD skeletons discovered under one of Brighton’s most prestigious landmarks have been exhumed and relocated.

Excavations under the Corn Exchange have now unearthed additional remains of 18th century Brighton residents, believed to have been members of the Quaker community buried in a small cemetery which pre-dated the construction of Brighton Dome.

All but two of the 13 skeletons now discovered have now been transferred by archaeologists to a lab in Portslade where they will be subject to further study before a decision is made regarding reburial.

Garrett Sheehan, of Archaeology South-East, which is working with the council’s construction teams at the New Road dig site, said: “We believe the skeletons are within 300 years old.

“Maps from about 1801, which showed this area marked off as Quaker’s Croft - that was an indication that there would be Quaker burials here.”

He said the small cemetery had fallen out of use prior to the main phase of works for Brighton Dome which began in 1911.

He continued: “In this area, outside the old riding school we have a number of old burials which weren’t moved to the new Quaker premises but we suspect we’re probably looking at maybe the later part of the 18th century.

“We think the burial ground here was probably in use for about 50 years or so.”

The experts consider it likely that the site’s use as a burial ground was only shortlived because it is relatively rare to find so few bodies.

Darryl Palmer, the team’s head of fieldwork and survey, said the find was “actually quite a small population for a cemetery.”

He explained: “The first thing that happens here is they are carefully lifted here and bagged up separately, they’ll go back to our office where they are cleaned and looked at in detail by our osteological CORR team.

“After that has happened, that process analysis, then there are decisions to be made still about whether they are reburied or cremated and reburied or whether they are stored for longer term curation and study.”

The exhumation has taken slightly longer than usual because of the gravelly ground.

Terry Byrne of Brighton Quakers told The Argus that the society does not consider it likely the bodies are the direct antecedents of any present-day congregants.

He said the society has well-preserved records from the late 1700s and early 1800s which name Quaker families, and none of the names match the thousand-or-so people affiliated with the movement in Brighton today.

The burials would have taken place with few words,

Quaker funeral ceremonies being indistinct from a usual Sunday meeting which is conducted in near-complete silence.