WHEN the bones of a young Victorian woman emerged from their watery grave, speculation was rife over how she came to rest there.

The simple answer is we may never know.

Did she meet a gruesome end and was buried in an unmarked grave? Was she the victim of the harsh regime of the Victorian workhouse era who was buried in a pauper's grave?

The way the bones were discovered and their location can give some clue as to the life the young woman could have led.

Certainly the police have confirmed they have no plans to investigate the discovery further but they admit they are in no position to tell if the woman met a brutal end.

All forensic science can confirm is that the bones belonged to a woman aged between 17 and 21 and that she lived more than 100 years ago.

The age and condition of the bones made it an impossible task to determine whether she had been murdered but the discovery of a lone skeleton in a coastal grave does raise suspicion.

Det Supt Andy Stewart, who was one of the first to examine the bones, said while the find was interesting no criminal aspect to the death could be established.

He said: "There obviously can't be an ongoing investigation because of the age and conditions of the remains. There is of course the chance that she could have met a violent death but that cannot be established.

"From what we know however, it is likely she was buried where she was found or very close to it as the bones were altogether with the vast majority of them present. That suggests that they did not come from very far afield as they would have been washed up randomly.

"We have heard stories that natural burials did take place in the Victorian times with particularly paupers being buried at low tide on the coast. But I am no expert. All I know is that these types of discoveries do happen from time to time because of constant erosion.

"Hayling Island, Gosport and Portchester have all been places where ancient remains have been recovered."

A more plausible explanation could be that the death was a natural one and that the body was buried in a coastal burial site that has long since been submerged by the sea.

According to social historian and primary museum officer with Hampshire Alistair Penfold, Warsash was reknowned in the Victorian era as an agricultural society with many of the workers coming from the gypsy and travelling communities.

He said: "The Fareham and Warsash area was very much an agricultrual, land-based society. Most people were employed in the area to work as farmhands or fruit pickers.

"Because the work was very seasonal much of the workforce came from the travelling and gypsy communities some of whom came in and out of the area. Others settled and still have decendants in Warsash today.

"The primary crop was strawberries and certainly women and children were used as pickers during that period. In all weathers too. In the winter they would be out on the frozen fields pulling up turnips or picking stones out of the ground.

"Life was very hard for the women of that time in that community but the only other option was the workhouse. The work was very physical and seasonal so you had to be a strong character to do it.

"From the age of six people were involved in the farm work in the numerous nurseries, cottage gardens and farms across the Fareham area."

If the woman had just become a casualty of the hard regime of the time the chances of a lavish funeral were also slim although not without ceremony.

Mr Penfold said: "However poor the family might have been a Christian funeral would almost certainly have taken place. The religion was strong within the communities and travelling communities certainly had their own traditions and places to bury their dead.

"Whatever the situation the body would have been buried in consecrated land but probably without a headstone or any other marking to indicate who was there because the family could not have afforded it."

So would police of the time have investigated any suspicious death, particularly of a person within the travelling community whose disappearance might not arouse suspicion?

The Hampshire police force was in existence by the 1900s but certainly wouldn't have been as sophisticated as the officers in the big industrial towns or London at that time.

According to archaeologist with Hampshire Museum Service Kay Ainsworth if a person had been murdered within the travelling community the death would not have been difficult to disguise.

She said: "I wouldn't have thought too many questions would have been asked if the story was the person had just moved from the area. The communities were very transient - that was their culture."

Although not a regular occurrence the discovery of bones is not unheard of along the south coast. Some 20 years ago human bones were regularly discovered washed up in Portchester. A well-known Roman town it is well documented that soldiers were buried outside the castle there and as the sea levels have changed and risen a number have become dislodged.

Similarly in Hayling Island a monastery has been completely submerged in water and with it was believed to be dozens of graves.

But what of the recent find in Warsash. The likelihood is she will be given a final resting place near to where she was discovered.

Around eight years ago a body of a similar-aged woman from the 1900s was discovered at the Solent Breezes caravan site also in Warsash.

Her remains now lie in St Mary's graveyard in the village after permission was granted by the Portsmouth diocese.

No decision has yet been taken by the Portsmouth coroner's office as to where the final resting place may be. But the certainty is that however she came to lie in the shoreline at Warsash is a secret she will take to the grave.