10/09/2026
WHO WAS BURIED BENEATH GRAY’S HILL?
Our search for material for 100 Main Street: A Celebration of Bangor – Its Past and Present is uncovering stories we never expected to find.
The Down Recorder archive kindly shared this remarkable report, originally published on 13 October 1877.
It records how workmen digging foundations for a house at the foot of Gray’s Hill made a disturbing discovery: a human skull and several bones embedded in the sand.
The remains appeared to be those of an adult - but who they belonged to, how they came to be there and how long they had lain beneath Gray’s Hill remained a mystery.
The newspaper reported that a local Bangor doctor took possession of the skull.
And there, for now, the trail disappears.
Who was the person found beneath Gray’s Hill? Which house were the workmen constructing? Who was the doctor - and what happened to the skull?
Perhaps the answer still survives in a family story, an old property record or another forgotten newspaper cutting.
We’ve had a fantastic response to our search so far, but we know there must be many more photographs, memories and stories of Bangor waiting to be rediscovered.
If you have old photographs or a story about Bangor’s past, we’d love to hear from you. Please send us a message - or share what you know in the comments.
