Horrified farmer finds human bones after floods

By Jack Fifield

A farmer was left “spooked” after he stumbled across suspected human bones outside a churchyard that had been flooded.

When he spotted the remains on the road, Stephen Bartlett, 61, was walking past his local church in the pretty Somerset village of Mudford.

The retired soldier claims he “instantly recognized” the bones as human after he made the grim discovery on January 29.

Stephen says he was concerned the bones could be swept away in another downpour so carefully gathered them up and took them home.

He said: “There had been a weekend of heavy flooding so I went out to have a look to see if there was any damage anywhere.

“I was walking along and I saw what looked like a legbone sticking out, then when I looked down on the road I found an ulna [forearm], an arm bone, and a collarbone.

“I couldn’t leave them there on the road sticking out, because they could end up being
washed away in the next flood.”

Stephen suspects the bones may have come from multiple graves in St Mary’s Church in the village which was waterlogged after the River Yeo burst its banks.

He added: “I said ‘Christ alive’. I was fearful of walking a bit further along and seeing an actual skull looking out of the soil, I was really spooked.

“Because it’s a well used road right next to the church, I didn’t anyone else picking them up and taking them away.

“At first I hid them behind a gravestone in the churchyard, but the police said ‘keep them all together and keep them secure.’”

The graveyard is also home to a Commonwealth War Grave, for Ordinary Seaman W J Pearce, who died on July 19, 1918.

Stephen said the Commonwealth War Graves Commission is now also launching an investigation.

Parishioners are said to be “totally shocked” by the discovery of bones floating outside the church.

Stephen said: “[They said] ‘are you sure they’re not dog bones?’

“No, they are human. I know, I was in the army, I was in the Balkans, so I know exactly what I’m looking at.

“The older generation are really upset because some of them know people who are buried in the churchyard.

“They’ve noticed the flooding is getting worse and it’s getting longer.”