61 skeletons discovered underneath Peterborough's Queensgate roundabout

The skeletons have been discovered as excavation continues on the roundabout as part of the Station Quarter project.

Tombs and burial chambers have also been uncovered since work began on the so-called City Link in July.

However, the finds mean that completion of thew 40 week long project will be delayed by a total of 11 weeks.

Four weeks ago Peterborough City Council revealed that works had found 37 skeletons.

Councillor Angus Ellis, cabinet member for transport at the council, said: "We have now discovered 61 skeletons, however, we only have a small area left to clear.

For this reason, we, together with archaeologists, anticipate a further three-week delay to the project, which will be 11 weeks in total.

"We have a duty to exhume the skeletons carefully, ensuring we abide by the burial licence as instructed by the Ministry of Justice.

”Therefore, we are being led by archaeologists, including those from Oxford Archaeology."

It’s believed that the remains date from a cemetery which existed on the Queensgate Roundabout site during the Medieval period and later developed in the Victorian period.

The council has obtained an archaeological licence and appointed an archaeologist to ensure the skeletons are reburied in line with national guidelines.

Each of the skeletons will be reinterred at a Church of England burial ground elsewhere in the city.

According to the Peterborough Civic History Society, the first person buried at the site was Elizabeth Money in March 1805.