A SKELETON has been unearthed by builders working and converting a 14th Century barn into a new home in Borley. The find will add to the mystery that surrounds the Essex village, which is pur­ported to be one of the most haunted places in the coun­try.

Ghost hunters make regular trips to the village to try and catch a glimpse of the legendary nun said to haunt the site of the former Borley rectory and a number of books have been published on the subject.

The latest development came as workmen were digging out new foundations for the luxury develop­ment, which stands next to Borley's church. They made the discovery at the end of last week and immediately phoned Essex police. A coroner was sent out to exam­ine the remains, which included part of a skull, leg bones and several ribs.

It was quickly concluded the remains were so old there was nothing to suggest any­thing suspicious, and that there was no need for an investigation.

The bones were removed from the site and are now being kept safe before they can be re-buried.

Church rector Captain Brian Sampson said a Christian burial would take place within the grounds of the village church. He played down the signifi­cance of the skeleton being found outside the walls of the graveyard, and expressed the view that the land that the barn was built on proba­bly formed part of the church's grounds in past cen­turies.

"I think it is just a straight forward grave, from a time when people were buried in shrouds rather than a coffin. "The bones are so old we have no-way of identifying them, we don't even know if it was a man or a woman."

Paranormal investigator and leading academic on the Borley phenomenon Edward Babbs said the bones could by connected to a similar find made during the Second World War. He said: "It's a long shot but the ancient human remains that were discov­ered under the former rec­tory's cellar in August 1943 consisted of really only some pieces - part of a cranium and a left jaw bone. If these are missing from this recent find this could be of great significance."

The remains found seven decades ago were buried in a small plot in the nearby Liston church.

Both the builders working at the site and the developer behind the scheme declined to make a comment on the find.