London, April 21 (IANS): A couple recently bought a £400,000 (Rs.4.6 crore) four-bedroom house on an estate in Britain. Little did they realise that their immediate neighbours were centuries-old skeletal remains from Napoleon's army!

The 300-year-old remains of French prisoners stumbled out when they decided to extend the property in Fareham, Hampshire.

The builders found the remains while preparing the ground for an extension.

Archaeologists now believe the bones are of two or three 'well built’ men and their state of preservation suggests they are up to 300-years old.

The property is near Portchester Castle, where around 7,000 French prisoners were held during the Napoleonic wars, said a Daily Mail report.

According to archaeologist David Hopkins of Hampshire council, the home also lies about 100 yards from the site of a prison hospital from the conflict.

The Frenchmen were held on ex-navy ships in nearby Portsmouth harbour, from 1770s to 1850s, the report added.