NHER 2445 (Find Spot record) - Undated human bones

3 April 1954. Possibly excavated by draglines from top soil of sandpit December 1953.
On land near sandpit at The Howdale,
Human bones found.
See (S1).
R. R. Clarke (NCM).

The police report describing the discovery of the bones (S1) indicates that the finds consisted of a lower jaw including fourteen teeth and two other bones which may also have been from a skull. They had the appearance of having been removed from the sand-pit and placed on the land beside it.
This area has been subject to extensive sand extraction from the 19th century onwards. Quarry pits have been recorded in the northern portion of this site (NHER 58279) and to the west (NHER 56798), and the First Edition Ordnance Survey map (S2) depicts a 'marl pit' immediately to the south. Excavations at NHER 58279 also indicated that substantial landscaping has taken place within the area and topsoil may have been imported during construction of new dwellings in the 1950's.
No traces of the origin of these finds were observed during excavations at NHER 58279. It is possible that the bone had been redeposited during earlier landscaping or quarrying activities, and may even be related to earlier inhumations in the area of the 19th century cemetery (NHER 34303) immediately to the west of this site.
H. Hamilton (HES), 22 November 2012.