Recent excavation by our archaeologists at Liverpool Street for Crossrail has uncovered a mass burial pit. Containing around 45 individuals, we hope to confirm whether the mass burial is contemporary with the Great Plague of 1665 through further scientific study.
The team has so far carefully excavated around 3,500 skeletons from the former Bedlam burial ground. This is the largest collection of 16th and 17th century skeletal remains ever excavated in London.
Unlike the individual graves found in the rest of the cemetery, these skeletons are contained within a clearly defined pit. The burials were originally placed within coffins, the wood of which has decayed causing them to collapse in on each other. The skeletons are positioned in rows and line the edges of the pit. Stacked three or four deep, the skeletons fill all the available space. There doesn’t appear to have been any soil placed in between the burials, suggesting they were interred in a single event. This is consistent with a catastrophic event, such as Plague.
Explore the discovery in this 360° film of our archaeologists excavating the pit.
