Ground has broken on works to transform the historic Cardigan Hospital following the discovery of human remains at the site.

The derelict Cardigan Memorial Hospital is this month beginning its transformation into 20 housing units, offices and a community cafe, having once been a hospital for WWI soldiers.

However during surveying, archaeologists discovered much older artefacts, including the “significant and unexpected discovery” of 38 bodies that could date back to the 12th Century.

The hospital was built on the site of a medieval priory.

A large country house was built on the site in the 18th Century by Buckingham Palace architect John Nash, before being turned into a hospital to treat returning soldiers from the Great War.

After the hospital closed its doors in 2019, Wales & West Housing Association (WWHA) acquired the site to develop 20 flats and offices for the association.

During site surveys, researchers found 38 skeletons of men, women and children and five graves containing the remains of plain wooden coffins.

Described in the archaeological report from 2023 as “largely in poor condition and disarticulated”, the bodies were nonetheless a surprise to researchers, who exhumed the bodies for testing.

They will later be reinterred on consecrated ground in St Mary’s.

The bodies were buried oriented east to west, which was typical of post-Roman Christian burials and suggested they potentially lay in a pauper’s cemetery belonging to a church that used to sit on the site.

A worked flint dating back to the Neolithic period was found in one of the graves and a scraper provisionally dated to the Bronze Age, along with medieval pottery found at the site.

Despite this, the report states the burials most likely date from the 12th Century onwards when the Priory Church was established.

Though the site could have further archaeological remains due to its size and layered history, the works on the site began on 8 June, with the plans taking into account the December 2023 report.

The works include restoring the old Priory House building.

WWHA didn’t respond to queries about the remains found, but Peter Harding, Chair of the Wales & West Housing Board, said about the work commencing: “We are thrilled that work [has begun].

“There have been many unforeseen challenges which we have overcome to get to this point, so it is really exciting that our plans are about to come to life, for us and the local community.

“From this week, local residents and visitors to Cardigan will begin to see construction activity in and around the site as we deliver this important development for the town.

“As well as the positive visual impact of the development on the town when complete, with views of St Mary’s Church and Priory House, we hope that there is a positive economic impact too.

“It is important to us that we have been able to secure Jamson Estates to work with us on the project, supporting local jobs and the economy in the Cardigan area.”

The work is expected to take three years.