Gruesome discovery made at cottage

A family in Potters Bar could be facing a bill for £40,000 after a gruesome discovery was made at their home.

When work began on a new extension at Catherine McGuigan's house, builders accidentally stumbled across a burial ground under the dining room.

At least eight skeletons have been uncovered from what was a Quaker resting place from the 1700s, and its thought there could be many more.

Miss McGuigan, who had moved out of the cottage while the work was taking place, called the police who immediately cordoned off the house for a forensic search.

"It was like something out of a horror movie," said Miss McGuigan, who has a son, Cameron, ten, and has lived in the cottage for 11 years.

But officers decided not to take the matter further after the remains turned out to be over 100 years old.

Within days of restarting the work, more skeletons was found. It is thought up to 40 more bodies could be buried at the cottage.

Miss McGuigan will now have to arrange the disposal of the skeletons as no one else will take responsibility for the remains.

"I am staggered that the local council wrote to me saying whilst I did not need a licence to exhume the bodies - because it is not a registered burial site - they still expected me to "show respect" for the dead," she said.

Despite an undertaker quoting her a fee of £800 per body, Miss McGuigan says she still plans to carry on with her £150,000 extension.

The cottage was reportedly built over an old Quaker meeting house. It is thought that because the worshippers were non-conformists they were not allowed to bury their dead in church graveyards.

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