Human bones scattered in churchyard by rabbits

AN ANGLICAN minister told of his horror yesterday after he discovered human bones scattered in the grounds of a historic Scottish monastery.

The Rev David Fox said he had been confronted by the “stuff of nightmares” when he visited the ancient graveyard at Kinloss Abbey near his home at Forres in Moray.

Scattered across the grass on the surface of the cemetery – once a Cistercian monastery – were pieces of skulls, arms, ribs and even teeth.

Rabbits are believed to have been responsible for the gruesome desecration of the graves, some dating back to the 1700s. The graveyard is one of four separate cemeteries in the vicinity of the ancient abbey, close to the air base at RAF Kinloss. There are also two municipal cemeteries and one military cemetery in the area.

Mr Fox, 37, who alerted Moray Council to his gruesome discovery, declared: “It’s the stuff of nightmares. Dead servicemen have been buried here. Potentially, their bones could be strewn across the graveyard in years to come. It’s horrific. This is not something that has happened overnight. The more I looked around, the more I saw.

“It should be hallowed ground. You should have dignity in death. You don’t expect to be tripping over people’s ribs and teeth when you visit a graveyard.”

He continued: “You are entitled to eternal rest. What are visitors to the graveyard going to do if their dog comes running to them with a piece of bone?

“Everyone was so horrified when the kids pushed over the gravestones in Elgin, now this. The council should be checking it. I know there may not always be family left, but they are still people.”

Mr Fox, who works as a hospital and prison chaplain, added: “Some people come here to trace their ancestry, and this could be what they find. This abbey has been a place of worship from the 1100s. These people should have a burial again – they should be interred properly.”

Another member of the public who saw the bones scattered on the surface of the cemetery said: “It was quite grim. You could see pieces of ribs and what looked like children’s teeth and parts of a skull. I also saw a finger bone, an arm and vertebrae. It was hard to say how many pieces there were.”

A spokesman for Moray Council said that rabbits appeared to be responsible.

He added: “Bones being disinterred by burrowing rabbits has been a recurring problem at this burial ground over the years and vermin control has been carried out in the past.

“It is not possible to say precisely when these bones may have become exposed, but as soon as we found out we sent a burial grounds team to reinter them as close as possible to where we believe they may have been buried. We will look at further rabbit control.”

Forres councillor Jeff Hamilton, who is chairman of the Kinloss Abbey Trust, said: “This is something that we are aware of. It does happen. We do our best to keep the area rabbit-proof but it’s difficult.”