The skeletons, dating back to the 1700s, were removed in a planned exhumation on land being prepared for a new Asda store - a subsidiary of Walmart - in Coronation Street.

Archaeological experts from Oxford were called in to oversee the exhumation process last year.

The bones are now stored in Oxford and the long-term aim is to re-bury them in a designated plot at Westoe Cemetery.

Today, a spokesman for Henry Boot, the Asda site developer, confirmed the bodies had been recovered from an unmarked burial ground.

The Reverend Raymond Burr, of adjacent St Hilda's Church in South Shields Market Place, said he had been unaware of the exhumation.

Part of the current Asda development site formed part of St Hilda's original churchyard more than a century ago.

Rev Burr said: "This comes as a surprise. The remains were probably found outside the boundary of the original churchyard.

"Four or five years ago the police stopped the excavation when the skeletal remains of two people were found in Coronation Street.

"They were reinterred at St Hilda's. But there has never been anything on this massive a scale."

Rev Burr speculated that some of the remains may be those of plague victims.

He added: "There was a plague around that period, which might account for the high number of remains found."

Coun John Anglin, ward member for Beacon and Bents, said: "I've never heard a murmur about it. I was aware there was always a chance remains could be found.

"In medieval times bodies would be buried as close to churches as possible."

Much of the exhumation work was carried out by the Research School of Archaeology and Archeological Research (Arcus) at Sheffield University.

The new Asda store, which is to open later this year, is to replace the existing premises in the town's Ocean Road.