Divers have stolen from the Holland 5, a historically important submarine wreck lying in the English Channel.

English Heritage said divers stole the torpedo tube hatch of the Holland 5, which sank six miles off Eastbourne in East Sussex in 1912.

The theft was discovered during a licensed dive by the Nautical Archaeology Society (NAS) in June and confirmed during a dive last month.

The NAS described the wreck as a “remarkable piece of naval heritage”.

Sussex Police and English Heritage have appealed for help to catch the perpetrators, who may have struck up to two years ago.

Experts said a group of people would have been behind the theft but that the hatch carried very little monetary value.

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The remains of 57 Irish immigrants have been found in a mass grave in Pennsylvania. It was believed that they succumbed to cholera, but the bones show evidence of murder.

Two skulls unearthed at a probable mass grave near Philadelphia this month showed signs of violence, including a possible bullet hole. Another pair of skulls found earlier at the woodsy site also displayed traumas, seeming to confirm the suspicions of two historians leading the archaeological dig.

“This was much more than a cholera epidemic,” William Watson said.

Watson, chairman of the history department at nearby Immaculata University, and his twin brother Frank have been working for nearly a decade to unravel the 178-year-old mystery.

Anti-Irish sentiment made 19th-century America a hostile place for the workers, who lived amid wilderness in a shanty near the railroad tracks. The land is now preserved open space behind suburban homes in Malvern, about 20 miles west of Philadelphia.

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Archaeologists in Scotland have begun excavations at Old College in Edinburgh where Lord Darnley, Mary Queen of Scots’ second husband, was murdered. The case remains a mystery to this day.

The house where Darnley had been lodging, about half a mile from his wife at Holyrood Palace, was associated with the Collegiate Church of St Mary – commonly known as the Kirk O’ Field.

The remains of the buildings have been buried beneath Old College, part of Edinburgh University, for more than 200 years.

The University of Edinburgh was granted the site in 1583 and work on the present-day Old College began in 1789.

But now, ahead of refurbishment work on the Old College quadrangle, archaeologists have been given a rare opportunity to excavate the site.

Key finds associated with the Kirk O’ Field site, including several bodies which had been interred in the graveyard, have already been uncovered.

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Yobs in Wales have pried historic stones from the top of Bronllys Castle and chucked them from the top of a tower.

The late 11th or early 12th Century motte with an 80ft tall round masonry keep has had a number of ancient stones prized from the top and thrown down both inside and outside the structure.

As a short-term measure, the access door to the top of the motte is to be closed for a time to enable repairs to be undertaken and the stones replaced.

A recent works programme included improvements to the castle’s main entrance and a new “robust” metal access stairs to the tower.

The castle was built by anglo-Norman lord Richard Fitz Pons and in the 13th Century, a garrison defended the fortress against Llywelyn the Great.

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Hundreds of looted ancient artifacts recovered by Italian police were displayed in the Colosseum on Friday.

The 337 pieces displayed in the ancient Roman arena include vases, bronze tools and marble statues of Venus, some dating as far back as the 8th century B.C.

Police said the pieces are worth some euro15 million (about $20 million) overall. They said the pieces were returned from Switzerland in June after a two-year investigation.

Italy has aggressively pursued the return of art it says was illegally looted from its soil and sold to museums or private collections worldwide.

This probe grew out of an investigation into an Italian art dealer later convicted of art trafficking.

The objects were seized in Geneva, part of a massive haul of some 20,000 artworks from all around the world, the art squad of the Carabinieri police said.

The pieces returned to Italy also include “kraters” — huge vases used to mix wine and water — statuettes and drinking cups. Police say the objects were looted mostly from southern Italian regions and, after their spectacular display Friday at the Colosseum, they will return there.

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