Bones found near abbey

The 14 graves, several of which contained children, were found on the north side of the church during roadworks.

Experts believe the skeletons were servants dating from the Late Saxon period, when Benedictine nuns first set up their community in 907, under the rule of King Edward the Elder, son of the Saxon King Alfred the Great.

Dr Andy Russel, Southampton City Council's archaeologist, said: "We have cleaned the bones now and studied them. There are some very old individuals, in their 40s or 50s, which is quite interesting.

"They seem to have done quite a lot of manual work, their bones are very robust and craggy. One possibility is that perhaps these were the servants who ploughed the fields while the nuns spent their time praying and contemplating."

Dr Russel is part of the team working to analyse and record the unusual find, before the site is buried under new road improvements.

Hampshire County Council has also drafted in the help of Jackie McKinley of Wessex Archaeology, Test Valley's heritage officer and Southampton's Excavation Unit.

Some of the Saxon graves contained the nails of coffins and it is believed some of the people buried there had been wrapped in shrouds.

One had been lined with a thick layer of charcoal before it was laid in the ground - a method of burial reserved for special members of society.

Hampshire County Council's executive member for the environment Councillor Keith Estlin said: "This is a very exciting discovery which, once it has been fully excavated and investigated, will be an invaluable source of historical information for Hampshire.

"In the meantime, the county council and our contractors Lioncrown Ltd will endeavour to keep the works in Church Place on schedule and delay to a minimum."

Once the remains have been analysed they will be re-interred either in the Abbey's churchyard or in a burial ground.

The county council's improvement scheme began in June and is due to be completed by the end of September.