John Lowe, managing director of Stewart Milne North, said, “We discovered the human remains when we began preparing the wider area of Castle Gardens for development.

“We notified the police and Angus Council and brought in archaeological experts from SUAT Ltd to remove the remains for them to be buried elsewhere. They were found in a very small area of our site which will be developed in the future.

“We are very familiar with this sort of thing as it happens quite frequently, and calling in the archaeologists is standard procedure.”

Derrick Hall, from SUAT Ltd archaeologists, said, “Development work by Stewart Milne Homes located disarticulated human remains to the north west of the ruins of Ballumbie Castle.

“Following a site visit by a member of our staff on April 15, it was clear that disturbed stonework and medieval ceramics were also present.

“After a site evaluation by archaeologists from SUAT Ltd, it was clear the remains of a stone building of medieval date and an associated graveyard had been located by the developers.

“A parish church of Ballumbie is on record from the mid 15th century but its precise location has been lost although pieces of stone from the church are said to have been reused in the building of Ballumbie Castle in the mid 16th century.

“It was agreed with the local authority archaeologist that the limits of the building had to be defined, recorded and fully excavated and all human remains excavated, recorded and lifted before Stewart Milne’s development of this part of the site could continue.

“We hope to be finished by early June. Everything that is discovered will be properly recorded and photographed to ensure the preservation by record of all archaeological material.

“The results of this excavation will be reported on at this year’s Tayside And Fife Archaeological Committee Conference in Dundee in early November.”