Human bones dating back to the 13th century are to be given a “much happier ending” after being unearthed on a building site.

They were found on land near St Peter’s Church, Maidstone, by archaeologists carrying out a survey prior to the building of a new five-storey Travelodge.

The dig’s leader Nikki Rahmatova, from the Museum of London Archaeology Service, said: “The remains were probably disturbed in the Victorian times when the gas works were installed.

“We were quite horrified at how the Victorians ploughed through everything

including burial grounds. We don’t have any whole skeletons, the bones were scattered over quite a large area and it is impossible to tell what sex they are."

She added: The bones will be taken away and buried together in consecrated ground. We are giving them a much happier ending.”

However, in archaeological terms, the major find on the site in St Peter’s Street is a medieval drain with a diameter of 5ft 10ins. It is made of ragstone with a flagstone floor.

“It is very rare and a fantastic structure,” said Mrs Rahmatova, “We have ensured it will survive by getting Kent County Council to put a preservation in situ order on it so it cannot be covered up or lost.”

The dig is concentrating on where the piling will go for the hotel and Mrs Rahmatova said the developers had already had to alter their plans to allow for the drain.

It is clear that the bones were linked to a cemetery at the hospital, often referred to as Le Newerk or in Latin novi operis, the new work. Founded about 1260 by Archbishop Boniface it was dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul. There were claims that the hospital was build to accommodate pilgrims on the road to Canterbury but an inquiry in 1375 showed it was to maintain a chaplain and ten poor men. Under the terms of the foundation, each of the men was to receive daily his bed, a dish of food, a loaf of bread and six pints of ale.

Mrs Rahmatova said the St Peter and St Paul chapel to the hospital fell out of use in the early 19th century and was used as a beer store by the brewery on the other side of the river.

“Records show that when the church came back in to use in the late 19th century and the gas works were installed the then vicar was unaware that there might be bodies buried on the site or that it had ever been a cemetery.”

The hospital had been built at the same time as the college building in Palace Avenue which once housed the Kent Music School.