A BURST water main in a medieval burial site in York city centre flooded three streets and unearthed ancient human remains on Christmas Day.

The flood was the second time this year that the water main in High Ousegate, next to All Saints Church Pavement, had caused disruption, though the latest incident was more severe than the previous episode in September.

Police closed High Ousegate, to traffic and parts of Piccadilly and Stonebow, as council workers spent the day washing mud from the roads and retrieving human bones which had been scattered around the collapsed paving stones.

The damaged pipes are the property of Yorkshire Water, though nobody was available to explain what had happened.

In September, a burst water main in the same spot unearthed a human skull.

At the time, Richard Hall, director of archaeology at York Archaeological Trust, said: "It simply confirms what we already knew: that there was a large burial ground around All Saints Pavement.

"That church has a history that goes back before the Norman Conquest. People have been buried there over generations and generations."