YORK'S rich history has been tilled ceaselessly for generations. So much so that we could be forgiven for assuming there was little new to learn about this ancient city of ours.

But we reckoned without the inquisitive minds of local historians. They have helped us to a greater understanding of our ancestors' way of life; now they are uncovering secrets about their way of death.

In what is literally ground-breaking work, the York Cemetery Trust is to reveal a previously hidden seam of our city's past: the catacombs.

The cellar underneath the cemetery was intended as a burial vault for wealthy Victorians, but now much of it is used as a store. The expense of such a lavish interment meant its popularity, even among the rich, was limited.

Now the last resting place is to be transformed into a leisure activity for the living. The trust has plans to transform it into a museum on Victorian attitudes to death.

York has an unrivalled record for developing fascinating museums. Both the Jorvik Centre and York Castle Museum were trailblazers in their different eras. The catacombs slot perfectly into that tradition.

And the public interest is most definitely there. Visitors can already tour the York Dungeon to see death in all its gory glory, then go on a ghost walk, usually conducted by a host in Victorian costume, to discover what our ancestors get up to in the afterlife.

Our fascination with death is eternal. A more serious insight into the funeral rituals and beliefs of previous generations should prove an absorbing addition to the entertainment-based attractions.

Death is said to be the last taboo. Much of our repressed attitude to the one certainty in life stems from the Victorian era. A tour of the new museum might tell us as much about ourselves as our forebears.

And, as trustee and historian Hugh Murray points out, this will be one attraction that visitors can enjoy whatever the weather.

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