It was quite interesting how they worked out the pagan origin of the Kellington site: several years ago, the Coal Board was going to be mining under the church, and it had to be put onto a concrete raft on hydraulic supports so that any shifting could be corrected. This involved demolishing the tower stone by stone and reassembling it later. They also had to clear all burials from within and around the church to a depth of 2 metres, and 3 metres from the walls so that they could gain access. The York Archaeological Trust took charge of excavating and exhuming all these remains, which took 4 months in awful winter weather, and later ran a 6 week course which I attended. All Christian burials run on a roughly East/West axis. Because of the church's position on a rise just outside the village, and because they suspected the cobble foundations (huge stones) could be from an earlier burial or sacred site, they had their suspicions - common Anglo-Saxon procedure was to clear any site that they were building on. One day, by the north wall and under a mediaeval burial, they found a skeleton buried on a North/South axis. He went to Bradford for carbon dating. I never heard the result, but they were pretty sure this was proof of the site's pre-Christian use. He was the only one.

mouldy