Halloween Gallery

Skull and poison bottles DP134420

St Thomas Church, St Thomas Street, Southwark, Greater London. Interior of the Herb Garrett and Old Operating Theatre Museum. Detail of a skull surrounded by medicine and poison bottles in the Herb Garret, formerly an apothecary's store

© Historic England Archive

Folklore

Crypt Hythe Church AL0196_007_02

St Leonard'??s Church, Hythe, Kent. This image shows the ossuary, or bone store, in the vaulted ambulatory beneath the chancel of St Leonard'??s Church. The space had been used to store skulls and other bones disturbed during building work or when new graves were dug. Some 10, 000 bones, including around 2, 000 skulls, dating from the medieval period were arranged on shelves or stacked in piles. The ossuary had long attracted visitors, and the photograph shows advertisements for guides written by the vicar, and a table with what appears to be a visitors'?? book and a donations box. James Valentine & Sons Ltd albumen print c.1900

© Historic England

Castlerigg Stone Circle AA080444

CASTLERIGG STONE CIRCLE, St Johns Castlerigg, Cumbria. A view of some of the standing stones that make up Castlerigg Stone Circle, which was raised in c3000 BC in the Neolithic period and is situated three miles east of Keswick, showing the stones silhouetted against a view of Cumbrian fells. Photographed between 22nd December 1953 and 7th January 1954 by John Gay

© Historic England