New Bunhill Fields burial ground, Southwark: excavations at Globe Academy, 2008

Abstract

• Documentary sources suggest that from c 1821–53 up to 33,000 burials may have taken place in the commercial Nonconformist burial ground at New Bunhill Fields, Southwark. Excavation of 827 wooden coffin burials in 2008 allows comparisons of the use of the burial ground, coffin furniture and burial finds with other contemporary cemeteries. Of particular interest is the good level of preservation of floral remains in a child’s coffin, ceramic plates in a woman’s coffin and good examples of burial clothing. The 514 skeletons selected for full osteological analysis, demonstrating a broad spectrum of disease conditions, provide a wealth of information about life and death in this area of 19th-century London.