Crypt uncovered

Kathy Mills, 60, was rehearsing last week in St. Mary's church (pictured) in Redgrave, Suffolk, UK., for an amateur production of the musical "Quasimodo." The timbers holding up the floor of the altar had rotted, so her foot when right through the marble flagstones. But her swollen ankle was a small price to pay for what they discovered. A light lowered down through the sand and mud revealed a tunnel with steps descending into a passageway in one direction and a cluster of about six coffins tucked inside a chamber in the other. A crypt containing the coffins of the village's aristocracy had been rumored to exist for decades. Just weeks earlier, a geophysicist had confirmed its existence with ground-penetrating radar, but had been unable to locate the hidden entrance, even though it was said to have been accessible as recently as the 1920s. The church dates to the 14th c., and the chamber is believed to have been built in the 1500s and to contain the remains of the Bacon and Holt families. "One or two people have now started calling me the Tomb Raider," said the actress. The public is now invited to the church to see remote images of the vault - and of course to see the performance of the play!