THE Friends of Skipton's Raikes Road Burial Ground have carried out a small excavation of the mortuary in the old Victorian cemetery, which opened between 1846 and 1878.

This was funded by a Heritage Lottery Fund grant and was part of the group's ongoing project to restore the site and make it accessible to the public.

It is the only burial site in Skipton still in its original undisturbed state, although there has been damage to many remaining monuments and some have disappeared altogether.

The Mortuary remains show up as a mound which abuts Raikes Road. The Friends wanted to find out if any of the roof was still intact and – more particularly for public access – if the building had been infilled when it was closed.

Under the supervision of archaeologist Janis Heward, a two-day excavation took place in early August.

The team opened four test trenches and established the corners of the roof in the area furthest from the road. But of particular interest was the discovery of a flue in the mortuary, which had been bricked up at some stage. The flue went down around two metres and further study will look at its function.

Other limited finds were also made, which are to be the subject of further analysis.

Friends chairman Jean Robinson said: There is so little information about the Burial Ground generally and especially about the.mortuary.

“ All we knew was that the mortuary had been demolished in 1933, when it was described as being in a 'ruinous condition'. Its original entrance had been from Raikes Road, making it an underground building, so the team were very excited to find the flue at all.

"It was not used for burning, as the internal walls were clean, but possibly it acted as an odour extractor. Hopefully, we can return at some stage in the future to find out more about this enigmatic building.”

Anyone interested in the work of the Friends should visit frrbg.org.com.