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Show Bones of Warriors Who Fell In Fierce Battle Remarkable Collection Stored in Old English Church-Skulls Church-Skulls of Men Slain in Conflict Between Britons and Saxons Many Centuries Ago. (Ipelal Correspondence.) I'KNHB Inttreit la be-V.t be-V.t '"K evinced In the re-IfTTTfVj re-IfTTTfVj "'tit declstot to which vvll' lr "'' ,'T"a- ;)j'i , aul a chun h m llythe, M iJV ''-"Bland. ha arrived In NLV" A regard to tht . ollectlon Xr of humnn Ikij, i in the IQJ m crypt of the). church, r Beneath tit blRh al tar thfie Is deposited a viat accumulation accumu-lation of human remains. jtir wnlla on either side aro lined Isle h akulls, some lino In all, arranged n lcltes. exienillnK almost to the beautiful groined celling. Neatly ttaeked on the floor at thn back la a pis) of bones about seventy five feet In leo tlh. eight feet In helKht and over sl . et deep. These aro probably the nmalna of 7.1100 pimple. , It Is an hlslorlral fact that endeavors endeav-ors have been made for tht past two-or two-or three hundred years to Snd something some-thing about those curlom relics of past days. , It la evident from a work written by ttov. J. tlrome Cherlton about two centuries ago, that he madeamre than I one effort to gain aome Information from tho townspeople. In his book he says: "How or hy what nieana they were brgucht to thla place tho townsmen are altogether Ignorant Ig-norant and ran And no account of the matter." Ilia conjecture that they are remalna of aome 210 Frenrhmen who mot their death In a battle al llythe near the end of the thirteenth century Herbert Dale, the present rector of 8L Leonard s, and a historian and antiquarian anti-quarian of note, has proved to be far from correct. A very careful examination wa made of the remains by widely known ethnologists and thn result ot tholr Investigation fitted with Mr, Dale's own conclusions, that the hones bo hinged to Celts and flotlia living about 4oo. It alto confirmed the statement In Ot ' ) Interior of 8t. Leonardo, tne Physiology of Dr. Walker the die-tingulshed die-tingulshed anlomlnt. who ', of the Arm opinion that the bo0es belong to the llritons und Saoni. aa some were long and uarrow ami oth.ira short and broad. I'ossl! i- f mn(.h ,, not rosemhlo thebu tlrl U, wert ji( man ekulla. ,. - - , The vlcnr of St. Leonurd'e during the course of hit Investigation gave much credence to the ronjeeturee of thn historian Hasted. He tells how Vortlmer, a prince of lh.. llritons, fought and slew an army of Hnxons on the seashore not for from Folkestone. Folkestone, which Is not far from llythe. has similar relics piled In the vault of Its church, and this fact adds welnht to Mr. Dale'a an-aertlnnr an-aertlnnr that the whitened bones were gathered fiom the battlefield of the Hnxons. With such material In hand Mr. Hnle set to work and has Just given out nls recently evolved theory as to thn people whom these remnlns represent repre-sent and the rlrcumstnncoa of their being in the crypt. I org ago. In the year A. D. 4r.6. the ftnirlixh const was Inhabited by the Mrltona who were constantly suffering suffer-ing from Invasions by thn Kaxnn pirates, pi-rates, llythe) was particularly thn acenvi of bloody encenntera between the two rncea. Thn formation of the akulls ahowa distinct characteristics of the two A i . . , -;-;vv.-,"v4 1 w. " : - a: 6L Leonard's Church. races, thoiiirti In about four rosea the skiilla evidently belonged to Danes and Humana, tho latter coming over with the riaxuiis, and the Humane having hav-ing lingered near the ramp at Lynipne. 1 he fact that among the bouee were-thoso were-thoso of women and children has been brought forward by aome historians al proving tlot tho bones are not the remalna re-malna of those killed In battle, but Mr. Dnlo shown that t Drliona were defen.ii aj their homes I rum tho Satua Invi.d The mark of battle and the wo' one of ancient llritons are lull In ruiiy m skull; In aome rasea they aro cleft almost from tho top to the baso. It hi Mr. Diile'a supii-jsltlon that the bodies of thn slain worn left on the field of battle and yen's afterwurd the ekulla, which aro uleri lied by the sun and ninny rains, were Kiithorid up hy the monks and piled iMllscrluiluttto-ly iMllscrluiluttto-ly toyethnr In a stone vault. Formerly thorn wero four other chin-chin in ilythe, and' In the- vault of one of t'leno the ak'illa and bones were atuckfd. Bt. I.eonnrd'a was not built until the ena of the thirteenth oc. ury. Pre-vlous Pre-vlous to that three of Uie four rburchea were gradually deutroyed and the bonea removed from one church to the othor. In the reign of iHchnrd II, after th completion of St. I.eonnrd'a. a terrible Are swept the town and lb last of the four ancient churchoa perished In the names. HI. Leonard's alone survived the dlaster, and In Its crypt the bonea and akulls of the ancient warriors were stored. In the hope of discovering additional evidence Mr. Dale had the honet re-stacked re-stacked and a few pieces ot Roman-Saxon Roman-Saxon pottery were found, but nothing of greater Imoortaiira. The majority of the skulls still have teoth In their Jnws. There It not a decayed one among them and though some of them ore worn nmootu wllh age and uso, they are perfect. |