The work to exhume bodies from a Fife graveyard has unearthed another secret.
The council had to call in specialists to remove bodies from ancient lairs, as fears mounted that a towering boundary wall was at risk of collapsing on to the pavement.
It is now thought the section of wall that had to be mended was once an entrance into the grounds of Abbotshall Church, Kirkcaldy.
It seems this possible entrance may have been filled in in the past and is not the same thickness as the rest of the wall, which could explain where the problem started.
Late last year the council received permission to removed headstones and dig up the bodies that lay underneath in order to fix the wall.
Officers had been monitoring the wall for some time to gauge if there were any movements within the ancient stones and decided the time had come for the sensitive project to go ahead.
It was feared it may collapse on to the pavement outside the graveyard, which lies at a much lower level.
After the legal permission was granted, the council called in exhumation expert Peter Mitchell, who has worked all around the world in his 32-year career.
He has been overseeing the detailed work of exhuming the skeletal remains and storing them until they can be re-interred.
His team and council staff have been working in tandem to take down the wall stone by stone as bodies are exhumed.
One surprise has already been uncovered: a headstone, embedded low down in the wall, that features a skull and crossbones.
It was so deep it could signify that later graces were simply built up and up, on top of original burial lairs.
During the work which started last month and is expected to take 10 weeks in total dignity has been the keyword for the workers involved.
The church’s graveyard has been heavily screened as work has been carried out.
The exhumation of the bodies is now complete.
They are being stored in the crypt of the church the second Church of Scotland kirk built in Kirkcaldy and will be reinterred once work is complete.
The work is ongoing to rebuild the wall and the project is on schedule.
Picture by David Wardle