Capability statement: Environmental archaeology
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Clients: The Governors and Trustees of St Marylebone School
Authors: Natasha Powers and Don Walker
The construction of an underground sports hall required the removal of much of the cemetery of the original church of St. Marylebone. Though 14th century in origin, the church was completely rebuilt in the 18th century. Some 300 burials within the c.20% archaeological excavation area predominantly date from the later phases of use in the mid-eighteenth century to 1850, when the cemetery was closed. Three brick vaults and an area of the church crypt were also subject to archaeological investigation.
There was a certain social cachet to burial in the ‘old’ graveyard. The archaeological and osteological evidence appears to support the interpretation as a high status group: a number of the later graves were extremely deep, a feature for which you paid extra. Coffin plates and fragments of headstones have provided biographic details of 107 individuals, four of whom were buried within the archaeologically investigated area and in the subsequent osteological sample.
Significant discoveries so far include named individuals with evidence of dentistry: a gold filling and possible capped tooth from Baronet Thomas Hamspon, and Mrs Lucy Love buried with her ivory dentures. Surgical intervention has been seen in the form of the amputation of the lower leg of a young man, who had suffered a subsequent infection. There appear to be generally low levels of infectious disease, with the exception of pulmonary infections, though tuberculous and syphilitic adults have been found. There is a similarly low rate of fractures, perhaps indicating that the population was at low risk of injury from assault, accident or misadventure. Skeletal alterations resulting from the fashions of the time have been seen, eg rib deformities which are the consequence of corsetry and hallux valgus (leading to bunions) in both males and females. Both adults and children have poor dental health and high caries rates and a number of cases of D.I.S.H. (diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis) have been noted, supporting the theory of a high status group with a rich diet. Autopsy subjects of all ages have been identified.
Few adults or older children have any skeletal indications of metabolic or dietary deficiency diseases (scurvy, anaemia, rickets/osteomalacia). However, one of the most interesting finds is that there is an extremely high rate of rickets (vitamin D deficiency) in the young infants, particularly those between 1-2 years old at the time of death. Full analysis of the data may indicate why this is so, but the simple status-related interpretation of the condition during the industrial revolution does not hold true. It seems that affected individuals had little chance of survival as shown by the absence of resolved changes in the adult burials. The younger infants also have evidence of tuberculosis of the spine and significantly, of smallpox.
One of the values of such a site is the ability to correlate the historical and medical documents with the burial population. Comparison of rates of disease and trauma, evidence of medial treatment and technological innovation with other urban samples will provide an insight into the lives of diverse socio-economic groups in Georgian and Victorian London at what was a time of extreme social change.
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Clients: The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Westminster
Author: Natasha Powers
Excavation of the post-medieval burial ground within what is now Bishops Challoners School, Commercial Road has unearthed upwards of 500 burials during 2005. The burial ground was in use for a short period of time in the nineteenth century and was used exclusively by the Catholic community. All burials are within coffins and have been placed stacked, into deep graves. There was no intercutting of the graves suggesting a well planned and laid out cemetery.
The site was rural in character until the beginning of the 18th century at which date the modern development of the area began. By 1867 the Roman Catholic Church of St Mary’s and St Michael’s (now a grade II listed building) had been built and the land on the south of the church (the current development site) was being used as a burial ground. The burial ground was not utilized for very long, and by the 1914 is marked on the OS map as disused.
The skeletal remains are generally extremely well preserved and a large number of infants have been found in the uppermost layers of burials. These provide an excellent the opportunity to study child growth and development in a well-documented period. The value of the assemblage is further enhanced by the presence of legible, or partly legible, coffin plates in about one quarter of the burials. Grave goods, such as crucifixes and fragments of clothing have also been excavated.
Although no formal osteological examination has yet been carried out, evidence of rickets, fractures and autopsies has already been identified.
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Clients: Gifford (on behalf of London & Continental Railways Ltd)
Author: Natasha Powers
The analysis of post-medieval burials from St Pancras, exhumed in advance of construction of the new London terminus of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, is currently being edited for publication. This extensive archaeological project, which included a watching brief on exhumation works, was led by Gifford, on behalf of project managers Rail Link Engineering. As part of Gifford's team, Pre-Construct Archaeology undertook the fieldwork and MoLAS studied the skeletal remains and associated artefacts.
This large skeletal assemblage has provided an insight into the health of Londoners in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Eighty-two percent of the dated skeletal sample was buried between 1793-1812. This was a time of population increase, industrialisation and the rise of the urban poor. The cemetery contains both wealthy burials and later low-status workhouse inhabitants. Given what we know of London, the cemetery assemblage should reflect a living population riddled with respiratory and other infections, nutritional deficiency and social diseases.
A number of named individuals were examined, including high status (and formerly wealthy) French émigrés. Arthur Richard Dillon, Archbishop of Narbonne had been interred wearing a fine set of porcelain dentures.
Rates of caries and ante-mortem tooth loss were consistent with a refined and sugar rich diet and poor dental hygiene regardless of social status. Caries rates increased with age, until later adulthood, where ante-mortem tooth loss reduced the number of carious teeth present. Evidence of dentistry reflects the wealth of those buried: fillings of gold and a grey metal were also found.
One hundred and eleven individuals (15.5% of the assemblage) had skeletal manifestations of infectious disease. The majority could not be assigned to a specific cause. Lower than expected rates of tuberculosis (0.6% of the population) are explained by infrequent skeletal involvement, whilst treponemal infections (venereal syphilis) follow the modern clinical pattern of a peak between the ages of 20-24 years and a significant male bias. Cases included two individuals with particularly florid cranial changes, one of whom was named as Mr. Francis Coster. Interestingly probable cases included a coal merchant, Pierre Jossaume whose wife, Jeanne Jossaume, showed no indications of the condition and whose death certificate stated she had died from old age.
High rates of enamel hypoplasia and evidence of growth retardation support the presence of a poor urban population, whilst a lower than reported prevalence of cribra orbitalia, rickets and the presence of D.I.S.H. appears to contradict this. A number of adults had bowed long bones suggesting they had suffered from rickets earlier in life.
There was evidence of interpersonal violence amongst the men. Sixty-nine adults (44 males 19.0%), 20 females (9.1%) and five adults for whom sex could not be determined) had fractures: a wide range of injuries that might result from accident or deliberate violence. When compared to Christchurch, Spitalfields, these figures indicate a far higher fracture prevalence at St. Pancras.
Dissected human and animal bone was also found, reflecting the changing attitudes to death and dissection during the 18th and early 19th centuries.
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