GENERATIONS gathered yesterday to rebury relatives who died almost 200 years ago.

Seven bodies dating from the 18th and early 19th Centuries were found in a crypt under Eastgate Hall, a former Baptist chapel in Chichester. In recent years it has been used for jumble sales.

The bodies were exhumed, with the personal approval of Home Secretary Jack Straw, because city councillors are considering selling the hall.

They were reburied at Chichester cemetery.

The council managed to trace relatives of all but two of the bodies, one of which was that of John Dearling, mayor of Chichester in 1782. He died in 1802.

Pat Dearling, 44, of Summersdale, Chichester, took her two children to watch their great-great-great-great-grandfather being buried for the second time.

Mr Dearling's coffin was in the crypt with his wife Mary and daughter, also Mary, who died when she was just 16.

Also reburied was Joseph Randall, whose relatives are trying to research his life.

Great-great-great-grandson Brian Randall, 44, of Parklands, Chichester, said: "It was a bit of a shock when I heard he was buried beneath Eastgate Hall because I have been in and out of there all my life."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.