Baby's skeleton found under floorboards by contractors may be 300 years old

Peter Stevens
Thu, 16 Apr 2026 04:56:46 +0000

A baby skeleton found under the floorboards of a home in County Durham may be 300 years old, an inquest has heard.

The baby was discovered by contractors who were renovating a building on Fore Bondgate, Bishop Auckland in July 2024.

Referred to as Baby Auckland, County Durham and Darlington senior coroner Jeremy Chipperfield said the boy came to full-term, with a skeleton of about 40 weeks development.

It was impossible to confirm whether or not he was a stillborn, Mr Chipperfield said.

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DNA analysis confirmed the baby was a boy, but was not able to identify him, and no other information about his cause death was revealed through post-mortem inspection.

Contractors did find a brown twine looped three times around the baby's neck, Mr Chipperfield noted.

The baby was swaddled in a copy of The Umpire newspaper from June 19 1910, the inquest was told.

But radio-carbon dating suggested the remains dated further back than that.

The first tests confirmed the baby was born before the first atomic bomb testing in 1945.

Another type of radio-carbon dating suggested the child was most likely born between 1726 and 1812.

Initial investigations centred around determining who lived in the Victorian era property between 1900 and 1920 because of the newspaper.

When the baby was found DCI Mel Sutherland said: "My focus is on finding out who the baby is, what happened and how it came to be under the floorboards of that house.

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"As soon as we are able to, I am determined that this little baby is given an appropriate and dignified funeral."

The forensic postmortem examination was conducted by Dr Louise Mulcahy, a pathologist, and Dr Micol Zuppello, a forensic anthropologist.

The coroner’s officer Stephanie Clough told the inquest: "I understand the circumstances to be that on 29 July 2024 police were contacted as a contractor working on the building had found a small skeleton of a baby under the floorboards at the address.

"The baby appeared to have a thin twine-like material wrapped around its neck."

She added: "Carbon dating and DNA investigations have been undertaken by Durham constabulary. However, the remains of the baby have been unable to be identified."

A local undertaker and Durham County Council will give Baby Auckland a funeral after Mr Chipperfield released Baby Auckland's remains and adjourned the inquest.

The baby will be buried in Bishop Auckland cemetery on April 27.

A full inquest will continue on May 18 at 3pm.