THIEVES stole 21 ancient skulls from a church crypt display of what is thought to be the largest collection of its kind in Britain.

The remains, believed to be about 700 years old, were taken from 
St Leonard’s Church, Hythe, Kent, sometime between 4pm on Sunday and 10.40am on Monday.

Reverend Andrew Sweeney branded the crime “shocking and unsettling” in a statement issued by police, adding: “Each skull represents the mortal remains of a human being who deserves to rest in peace.”

A lock on a church door was damaged during the theft, a Kent Police spokesman said.

Officers are appealing for anyone with information about the burglary, or who has been offered a skull for sale, to come forward.

Inspector Maxine Harris said the skulls were “not free for the taking”, adding: “They are part of an important collection. We are keen to see them back in their rightful place in the crypt.”

St Leonard’s, known as the “church with the bones”, is famed 
for the collection, according to the Church of England.

The display in the crypt, known  as the ossuary, is open to visitors 
and boasts the “largest and best-preserved collection of ancient human skulls and bones in Britain”, the Diocese of Canterbury said.

It features a total of 1,022 skulls as well as other bones. References to the collection date back to 1678, according to the church.

There are several theories about the origin of the skulls but research has suggested they most likely belong to Hythe residents who had been buried in the churchyard in or around the 13th century.

As wells as the skulls arranged neatly along the walls, there are 8,000 bones in a huge pile stacked almost to the ceiling.

The collection is valuable for those want to know more about the health and genetic make-up of previous generations. 

There are many theories about how such a large collection got to Hythe, with some suggestions it was a a result of a Saxon battle or a wave of the Black Death. But experts believe an existing burial ground was disturbed during the building of the new church in the 13th century.

At the time, ossuaries were relatively commonplace. Bodies 
were only buried for a short while before being dug up again. The skulls and femurs were kept as they were the two strongest bones and it was thought their preservation was enough to guarantee passage into  the afterlife.