Cross Bones: Difference between revisions
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[[File:Crossbones-346.JPG|thumb|right|180px|Inside the site]] |
[[File:Crossbones-346.JPG|thumb|right|180px|Inside the site]] |
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Cross Bones is on the east side of Union Street bounded by properties on [[Borough High Street]]. |
Cross Bones is on the east side of Union Street bounded by properties on [[Borough High Street]]. |
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It was closed in 1853 because it was "completely overcharged with dead", and further burials were deemed "inconsistent with a due regard for the public health and public decency".<ref>MoLAS monograph. ''The Cross Bones Burial Ground, Redcross Way, Southwark, London''. Museum of London, 1999, pp. vii, 4, 29; [http://www.southwark.gov.uk/DiscoverSouthwark/BluePlaquesSection/blueplaques2006/crossbonesgraveyard.html "Cross Bones Graveyard"], Southwark Council, retrieved 25 December 2007; Walsh, John. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20060314/ai_n16211557 "Tales of the City: At the Cross Bones graveyard you can almost hear"], ''The Independent'', 14 March 2006.</ref> Southwark poet and playwright John Constable writes that, in 1883, the land was sold as a building site, prompting an objection from [[Earl of Meath|Lord Brabazon]] in a letter to ''The Times'', asking that the land be saved from "such desecration".<ref>Lord Brabazon, Letter to the Editor, ''The Times'', 10 November 1883, cited in Constable, John. [http://www.into.org.uk/SouthwarkMysteries/CrossBonesGraveyard.htm "Cross Bones graveyard'], The Southwark Mysteries website, 2005, retrieved 19 January 2008.</ref> |
It was closed in 1853 because it was "completely overcharged with dead", and further burials were deemed "inconsistent with a due regard for the public health and public decency".<ref>MoLAS monograph. ''The Cross Bones Burial Ground, Redcross Way, Southwark, London''. Museum of London, 1999, pp. vii, 4, 29; [http://www.southwark.gov.uk/DiscoverSouthwark/BluePlaquesSection/blueplaques2006/crossbonesgraveyard.html "Cross Bones Graveyard"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071230103000/http://www.southwark.gov.uk/DiscoverSouthwark/BluePlaquesSection/blueplaques2006/crossbonesgraveyard.html |date=30 December 2007 }}, Southwark Council, retrieved 25 December 2007; Walsh, John. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20060314/ai_n16211557 "Tales of the City: At the Cross Bones graveyard you can almost hear"], ''The Independent'', 14 March 2006.</ref> Southwark poet and playwright John Constable writes that, in 1883, the land was sold as a building site, prompting an objection from [[Earl of Meath|Lord Brabazon]] in a letter to ''The Times'', asking that the land be saved from "such desecration".<ref>Lord Brabazon, Letter to the Editor, ''The Times'', 10 November 1883, cited in Constable, John. [http://www.into.org.uk/SouthwarkMysteries/CrossBonesGraveyard.htm "Cross Bones graveyard'], The Southwark Mysteries website, 2005, retrieved 19 January 2008.</ref> |
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Constable writes that the sale was declared null and void the following year under the [[Disused Burial Grounds Act 1884]], and that subsequent attempts to develop the site were opposed by local people, as was its brief use as a fairground. However, after removal of remains to the parish facilities at [[Brookwood, Surrey|Brookwood]] the site was covered in warehousing and other commercial buildings. The [[Jubilee Line Extension]] required this and other neighbouring sites to be used for construction purposes and a new electricity sub station. This required a formal archaeological dig as a requirement of the comprehensive redevelopment of the site.<ref name=Constablewebsite>Constable, John. [http://www.into.org.uk/SouthwarkMysteries/CrossBonesGraveyard.htm "Cross Bones graveyard'] The Southwark Mysteries website, 2005, retrieved 19 January 2008: MoLAS Monograph introduction op cit .</ref> |
Constable writes that the sale was declared null and void the following year under the [[Disused Burial Grounds Act 1884]], and that subsequent attempts to develop the site were opposed by local people, as was its brief use as a fairground. However, after removal of remains to the parish facilities at [[Brookwood, Surrey|Brookwood]] the site was covered in warehousing and other commercial buildings. The [[Jubilee Line Extension]] required this and other neighbouring sites to be used for construction purposes and a new electricity sub station. This required a formal archaeological dig as a requirement of the comprehensive redevelopment of the site.<ref name=Constablewebsite>Constable, John. [http://www.into.org.uk/SouthwarkMysteries/CrossBonesGraveyard.htm "Cross Bones graveyard'] The Southwark Mysteries website, 2005, retrieved 19 January 2008: MoLAS Monograph introduction op cit .</ref> |
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==Excavation== |
==Excavation== |
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Excavations were conducted on the land by the [[Museum of London Archaeology Service]] between 1991 and 1998 in connection with the construction of [[London Underground]]'s [[Jubilee line]]. [[Southwark Council]] reports that the archaeologists found a highly overcrowded graveyard with bodies piled on top of one another. Tests showed those buried had suffered from [[smallpox]], [[tuberculosis]], [[Paget's disease of bone|Paget's disease]], [[osteoarthritis]], and [[vitamin D deficiency]].<ref name=SouthwarkCouncil>[http://www.southwark.gov.uk/DiscoverSouthwark/BluePlaquesSection/blueplaques2006/crossbonesgraveyard.html "Cross Bones Graveyard"], Southwark Council, retrieved 25 December 2007.</ref> |
Excavations were conducted on the land by the [[Museum of London Archaeology Service]] between 1991 and 1998 in connection with the construction of [[London Underground]]'s [[Jubilee line]]. [[Southwark Council]] reports that the archaeologists found a highly overcrowded graveyard with bodies piled on top of one another. Tests showed those buried had suffered from [[smallpox]], [[tuberculosis]], [[Paget's disease of bone|Paget's disease]], [[osteoarthritis]], and [[vitamin D deficiency]].<ref name=SouthwarkCouncil>[http://www.southwark.gov.uk/DiscoverSouthwark/BluePlaquesSection/blueplaques2006/crossbonesgraveyard.html "Cross Bones Graveyard"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071230103000/http://www.southwark.gov.uk/DiscoverSouthwark/BluePlaquesSection/blueplaques2006/crossbonesgraveyard.html |date=30 December 2007 }}, Southwark Council, retrieved 25 December 2007.</ref> |
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A dig in 1992 uncovered 148 graves, dating from between 1800 and 1853. Over one third of the bodies were [[perinatal]] (between 22 weeks [[gestation]] and seven days after birth). A further eleven percent were under one year old. The adults were mostly women aged 36 years and older.<ref name=Mikulski>Mikulski, R. [http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/English/Collections/OnlineResources/CHB/Database/Post-medieval+cemeteries/Cross+bones.htm Cross Bones burial ground], Museum of London Archeology Service, 28 March 2007; retrieved 19 December 2007.</ref> |
A dig in 1992 uncovered 148 graves, dating from between 1800 and 1853. Over one third of the bodies were [[perinatal]] (between 22 weeks [[gestation]] and seven days after birth). A further eleven percent were under one year old. The adults were mostly women aged 36 years and older.<ref name=Mikulski>Mikulski, R. [http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/English/Collections/OnlineResources/CHB/Database/Post-medieval+cemeteries/Cross+bones.htm Cross Bones burial ground], Museum of London Archeology Service, 28 March 2007; retrieved 19 December 2007.</ref> |
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Beginning in 1996, local writer John Constable invented the story of Cross Bones. ''The Southwark Mysteries'' is a cycle of poems and mystery plays inspired, he writes, by the spirit of a "Winchester Goose" (prostitutes licensed by the Bishop of Winchester) and "the outcast dead".<ref name="Constable1999"/> The work has been performed in [[Shakespeare's Globe]] and in [[Southwark Cathedral]].<ref>"Shrouded in History," ''South London Press'', 20 April 2000, p. 6; Petre, Jonathan and Sturdy, Gareth. [http://www.fortunecity.com/emachines/e11/86/jesus.html "Dean Rejects Critics Of Southwark's 'Swearing Jesus' Mystery Play"], ''The Sunday Telegraph'', 14 May 2000.</ref> Interest generated by ''The Southwark Mysteries'' inspired the Cross Bones [[Halloween]] festival, celebrated every year since 1998 with a procession, candles and songs as part of John Constable's self promotional activities.<ref name=Constablewebsite/> |
Beginning in 1996, local writer John Constable invented the story of Cross Bones. ''The Southwark Mysteries'' is a cycle of poems and mystery plays inspired, he writes, by the spirit of a "Winchester Goose" (prostitutes licensed by the Bishop of Winchester) and "the outcast dead".<ref name="Constable1999"/> The work has been performed in [[Shakespeare's Globe]] and in [[Southwark Cathedral]].<ref>"Shrouded in History," ''South London Press'', 20 April 2000, p. 6; Petre, Jonathan and Sturdy, Gareth. [http://www.fortunecity.com/emachines/e11/86/jesus.html "Dean Rejects Critics Of Southwark's 'Swearing Jesus' Mystery Play"], ''The Sunday Telegraph'', 14 May 2000.</ref> Interest generated by ''The Southwark Mysteries'' inspired the Cross Bones [[Halloween]] festival, celebrated every year since 1998 with a procession, candles and songs as part of John Constable's self promotional activities.<ref name=Constablewebsite/> |
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The graveyard is now established as a site of local importance: Southwark Council nominated it for a [[blue plaque]] in 2005.<ref>[http://www.southwark.gov.uk/southwarkdiscussion/showpost.aspx?postid=1063/ Southwark council]</ref> An informal local group, Friends of Cross Bones, is campaigning for a permanent memorial garden,<ref name=Constable2007>Constable, John. ''Secret Bankside: Walks In the Outlaw Borough''. Oberon Books, 2007, pp. 28–29, 80–81, 120–121.</ref> and is instrumental in the halloween events. The graveyard gates in Redcross Way are permanently decorated by a changing array of messages, ribbons, flowers and other tokens; a short memorial vigil ceremony is held at the gates on the 23rd of each month in the early evening. |
The graveyard is now established as a site of local importance: Southwark Council nominated it for a [[blue plaque]] in 2005.<ref>[http://www.southwark.gov.uk/southwarkdiscussion/showpost.aspx?postid=1063/ Southwark council]{{dead link|date=May 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> An informal local group, Friends of Cross Bones, is campaigning for a permanent memorial garden,<ref name=Constable2007>Constable, John. ''Secret Bankside: Walks In the Outlaw Borough''. Oberon Books, 2007, pp. 28–29, 80–81, 120–121.</ref> and is instrumental in the halloween events. The graveyard gates in Redcross Way are permanently decorated by a changing array of messages, ribbons, flowers and other tokens; a short memorial vigil ceremony is held at the gates on the 23rd of each month in the early evening. |
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==Notes== |
==Notes== |
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Revision as of 18:54, 25 May 2017
Cross Bones is a post-medieval disused burial ground in The Borough, Southwark, south London, in what is now known as Redcross Way. Thanks to volunteers, the Garden of Remembrance is open to visitors from 12noon till 3 pm on weekdays and some Saturdays.
Origins and closure
Cross Bones is on the east side of Union Street bounded by properties on Borough High Street. It was closed in 1853 because it was "completely overcharged with dead", and further burials were deemed "inconsistent with a due regard for the public health and public decency".[1] Southwark poet and playwright John Constable writes that, in 1883, the land was sold as a building site, prompting an objection from Lord Brabazon in a letter to The Times, asking that the land be saved from "such desecration".[2]
Constable writes that the sale was declared null and void the following year under the Disused Burial Grounds Act 1884, and that subsequent attempts to develop the site were opposed by local people, as was its brief use as a fairground. However, after removal of remains to the parish facilities at Brookwood the site was covered in warehousing and other commercial buildings. The Jubilee Line Extension required this and other neighbouring sites to be used for construction purposes and a new electricity sub station. This required a formal archaeological dig as a requirement of the comprehensive redevelopment of the site.[3]
Excavation
Excavations were conducted on the land by the Museum of London Archaeology Service between 1991 and 1998 in connection with the construction of London Underground's Jubilee line. Southwark Council reports that the archaeologists found a highly overcrowded graveyard with bodies piled on top of one another. Tests showed those buried had suffered from smallpox, tuberculosis, Paget's disease, osteoarthritis, and vitamin D deficiency.[4]
A dig in 1992 uncovered 148 graves, dating from between 1800 and 1853. Over one third of the bodies were perinatal (between 22 weeks gestation and seven days after birth). A further eleven percent were under one year old. The adults were mostly women aged 36 years and older.[5]
The Southwark Mysteries
It is believed by John Constable, a local author, to have been established originally as an unconsecrated graveyard for "single women", a euphemism for prostitutes, known locally as "Winchester Geese", because they were licensed by the Bishop of Winchester to work within the Liberty of the Clink.[6] However, this is pure supposition and a wilful reinterpretation of a remark about another cemetery by John Stow in Maiden Lane, Bankside(1525–1605) referenced in A Survey of London in 1598 calling it the "Single Woman's churchyard".
Stow was writing long after the Reformation.[7] The evidence that exists and was itemised in the formal excavations by the Museum of London team, the age of the graveyard is known from the parish records. By 1769, it is clearly acquired as a new cemetery servicing the poor of St. Saviour's parish. Up to 15,000 people are believed to have been buried there.[8]
Beginning in 1996, local writer John Constable invented the story of Cross Bones. The Southwark Mysteries is a cycle of poems and mystery plays inspired, he writes, by the spirit of a "Winchester Goose" (prostitutes licensed by the Bishop of Winchester) and "the outcast dead".[6] The work has been performed in Shakespeare's Globe and in Southwark Cathedral.[9] Interest generated by The Southwark Mysteries inspired the Cross Bones Halloween festival, celebrated every year since 1998 with a procession, candles and songs as part of John Constable's self promotional activities.[3]
The graveyard is now established as a site of local importance: Southwark Council nominated it for a blue plaque in 2005.[10] An informal local group, Friends of Cross Bones, is campaigning for a permanent memorial garden,[11] and is instrumental in the halloween events. The graveyard gates in Redcross Way are permanently decorated by a changing array of messages, ribbons, flowers and other tokens; a short memorial vigil ceremony is held at the gates on the 23rd of each month in the early evening.
Notes
- ^ MoLAS monograph. The Cross Bones Burial Ground, Redcross Way, Southwark, London. Museum of London, 1999, pp. vii, 4, 29; "Cross Bones Graveyard" Archived 30 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Southwark Council, retrieved 25 December 2007; Walsh, John. "Tales of the City: At the Cross Bones graveyard you can almost hear", The Independent, 14 March 2006.
- ^ Lord Brabazon, Letter to the Editor, The Times, 10 November 1883, cited in Constable, John. "Cross Bones graveyard', The Southwark Mysteries website, 2005, retrieved 19 January 2008.
- ^ a b Constable, John. "Cross Bones graveyard' The Southwark Mysteries website, 2005, retrieved 19 January 2008: MoLAS Monograph introduction op cit .
- ^ "Cross Bones Graveyard" Archived 30 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Southwark Council, retrieved 25 December 2007.
- ^ Mikulski, R. Cross Bones burial ground, Museum of London Archeology Service, 28 March 2007; retrieved 19 December 2007.
- ^ a b Constable, John. The Southwark Mysteries. Oberon Books, 1999, pp. 9, 264–5, 291, 304–5, 338–9.
- ^ Stow, John. {{cquote|I have heard of ancient men, of good credit, report that these single women were forbidden the rites of the church, so long as they continued that sinful life, and were excluded from Christian burial, if they were not reconciled before their death. And therefore there was a plot of ground called the Single Woman's churchyard, appointed for them far from the parish church. A Survey of London. 1598; reprinted in 1633 by Elizabeth Purslow, p. 449. This edition held in Southwark Local Studies Library.
- ^ MoLAS monograph. The Cross Bones Burial Ground, Redcross Way, Southwark, London. Museum of London, 1999, pp. vii, 4, 29;
- ^ "Shrouded in History," South London Press, 20 April 2000, p. 6; Petre, Jonathan and Sturdy, Gareth. "Dean Rejects Critics Of Southwark's 'Swearing Jesus' Mystery Play", The Sunday Telegraph, 14 May 2000.
- ^ Southwark council[permanent dead link]
- ^ Constable, John. Secret Bankside: Walks In the Outlaw Borough. Oberon Books, 2007, pp. 28–29, 80–81, 120–121.
Further reading
- Cross Bones Graveyard website
- Brickley, Megan; Miles, Adrian; and Stainer, Hilary. The Cross Bones Burial Ground, Redcross Way, Southwark, London. Museum of London Archeology Service, 1999.
- Constable, John. The Southwark Mysteries. Oberon Books, 1999.
- Hausner, Sondra L. The Spirits of Crossbones Graveyard: Time, Ritual, and Sexual Commerce in London. Indiana University Press, 2016.
- Ogden, A.R., Pinhasi, R. and White, W.J., "Gross enamel hypoplasia in molars from sub-adults in a 16th–18th century London graveyard," American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2007.
- Tucker F. "Kill or Cure? The osteological evidence of the mercury treatment of syphilis in 17th to 19th-century London," London Archaeologist, Volume 11, Number 8, 2007, pp. 220–224.
- Google Maps – Cross Bones Graveyard
- Goose and Crow
- Southwark Mysteries website
- Cross Bones Graveyard at FLICKR
- Waking the Dead: the Crossbones Graveyard
- Campaigning to protect an ancient graveyard
- Crossbones Girl, BBC2 History Cold Case
- BBC News audio slideshow: Crossbones
External links
- Video montage and commentary, BBC News, 31 October 2010
