Historical records reference a burial ground in the Farringdon area that opened during the Black Death plague in 1348, Crossrail stated. The limited written records suggest up to 50,000 people may have been buried in less than three years in the cemetery, with the burial ground used up until the 1500s.
Despite significant development in the Farringdon area over the centuries, the burial ground, described in historical records as ‘no man’s land’, has never been located. However, Charterhouse Square had previously been identified as a possible site for the lost burial ground as it was one of the few locations in Farringdon to remain undeveloped for the past 700 years.
During the past two weeks, archaeologists uncovered the skeletons 2.5m below the road that surrounds the gardens in Charterhouse Square. The depth of the burials, the pottery dated up until 1350 found in the graves and the layout of the skeletons all point to the likelihood that these skeletons were buried in Charterhouse Square during the Black Death Plague around 1349. The graves have been laid out in a similar formation as skeletons discovered in a Black Plague burial site in east Smithfield in the 1980s.
The skeletons are being carefully excavated and taken to the Museum of London Archaeology for laboratory testing, Crossrail stated. The scientists are hoping to map the DNA signature of the Plague bacteria and possibly contribute to the discussion regarding what caused the Black Death. The bones may also be radio carbon dated to try and establish the burial dates.
Plague cannot survive for very long in the soil. After 650 years only the skeleton bones remain and do not present any modern-day health risk.
"This is a highly significant discovery and at the moment we are left with many questions that we hope to answer," said Jay Carver, Crossrail lead archaeologist. "We will be undertaking scientific tests on the skeletons over the coming months to establish their cause of death, whether they were Plague victims from the 14th Century or later London residents, how old they were and perhaps evidence of who they were. However, at this early stage, the depth of burials, the pottery found with the skeletons and the way the skeletons have been set out, all point towards this being part of the 14th Century emergency burial ground."
