A COUPLE’s plan to convert a church into their dream home turned into a horror story when they uncovered a grisly find buried under the floorboards.
Lucy, 53, and Rhys Thomas, 45, snapped up the Grade I listed St Peter’s Church after regularly driving past the historic building and spotting it for sale.
The 900-year-old former place of worship was advertised as a five-bedroom house, leading the couple to believe the conversion had already been carried out.
But when they arrived for the viewing, they were stunned to discover it was still very much a church and in need of a full overhaul.
Despite the challenge, the couple went on to buy the property in Peterstone Wentlooge, Wales, at auction for £405,000.
Before work began, Lucy and Rhys were warned there could be “five or six” bodies beneath the floor, as it was once common for wealthy or influential locals to be buried inside churches.
What they didn’t expect was to find body after body when they lifted the floorboards – eventually uncovering a total of 83 remains at the church which was founded in 1142.
Mum-of-five Lucy says that out of respect for the dead they decided to leave the bodies there – and then re-laid a new floor on top of them “along with underfloor heating”.
She said: “We needed to have an archaeologist present when we started digging up the floor.
“They said to me, ‘because we were digging down 40 centimetres, we would inevitably going to find a body somewhere as in the past often influential, religious or rich people in the community would be buried within the floors of the church’.
“We didn’t know this, so we were a bit apprehensive – but they said we would only find about five or six bodies, when they started digging, it became apparent there was a lot more than we first envisioned.
“The first few were uncomfortable but we gradually warmed to the process.
“People were buried together – husbands and wives, parents with children, so we decided to leave them in their final resting places and continue the build around them.”
The church at Peterstone Wentlooge, in Wales, was founded in 1142.
Lucy described the four-year renovation project, finally completed after buying the property in 2021, as a “huge battle and accomplishment”.
The Welsh family bought the church, which had been listed on Rightmove, shortly after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ahead of the viewing, the couple believed they were set to see a church that had already been converted into a home.
Instead, while it was marketed as a five-bed family house, the work had not been done and only planning permission was in place.
Lucy said: “We were surprised to find that it was still a church.
“When we finally got to see inside it, it was apparent the work hadn’t been done – we thought we were viewing a five-bed house!
“Planning was in place for a change of use to a residential dwelling.
“We’d gone with no intention of doing a lot of work – let alone converting the whole church.
”But by then it was too late and we had both fallen hook, line, and sinker for the building and its charms.”
For the first 18 months they were only able to ‘chip away’ at the property because they were waiting for planning permission from the council.
Rhys said: “It was a bit of a challenging job – we just learnt as we went along.
“We spent lots of time googling and joining listed building groups.”
Lucy and Rhys removed the 100-year-old floor themselves and the stonemason laid it outside the property as a patio – with all the original engravings and stone maintained.
A local builder was contracted to lead the conversion that’s anchored around a mezzanine flitch frame – a mix of metal and wood frame.
Lucy explained this enabled them to maintain a lot of the church’s original features.
She said: “We employed builders to do the works as between us we can barely change a bulb!
“Due to the mezzanine flitch frame, we were able to leave the church as it was – the old original church walls are untouched.
“We also have a bell tower and bell ringers to maintain them – but we had to repair the bells and install new ropes to ring the eight bells!
“It been a bit of a challenge – but we’ve got there eventually!”
Despite keeping all of the original church features, the family have added in modern features – such as secondary glazing on the windows and underfloor heating, a snooker table, grand piano, bar area and a large hot tub.
The once-dilapidated church is now a breathtaking six-bedroom, six-bathroom property that is currently listed on Airbnb.
Lucy added: “We are very proud of this and everyone has helped – our children, the architects, and the builders and of course my husband, Rhys, who has been in charge of all the finances and paperwork!
“We have put our hearts and souls into this – and would do it again in a heartbeat.”
You can follow their journey here.
