Mum and Dad renovators find hidden gravestone in kitchen bench

Gemma Free, 30, and her husband Jamie, 29, found the marble gravestone hidden in the kitchen bench of their 1955 family home while undertaking kitchen and laundry renovations.

It reads 'In Loving Memory of Charlotte Taylor' who died on 27 October 1934, aged 67 years.

Mrs Free, who enjoys cooking and baking in her kitchen everyday, said the find was completely unexpected.

She said she would like to find Charlotte's family, to see whether they knew about the kitchen memorial, and whether they wanted it back.

"In our bench top there was a really big piece of marble that we used to use as a chopping board," Mrs Free said.

"They ripped out the kitchen in a day, and then one of the builders saw the marble sitting on the grass, flipped it up, and that is when we saw the underside," she said.

"Us, the builders, all the other tradies, we were all very confused, laughing awkwardly, not knowing what to make of it."

While the family have been able to see a funny side to the discovery, Mrs Free said it was also upsetting that the gravestone had been left and forgotten.

"Maybe the people that built the house wanted something in the house to remember her. She died, time moves on, nobody else knew that it was there," Mrs Free said.

"It's sad that a family gravestone hasn't been with that family, and instead, has been sitting in someone's house for years without anybody knowing."

Mrs Free said they thought about putting it back in a wall of the kitchen but decided to keep it on hand in case the family can be found.

She said she hopes someone who knows Charlotte Taylor's family comes forward with information.

Alternatively, she said people with time and access to birth, death and marriage records might be able to discover who she was, and where her family might be.

"Someone might know or no-one might know, but I think we should at least try to find the family to give them an opportunity to get it back."