View report page

103
"'IV. 85.) The ground was part of the old enclosure of Bethlem
Hospital (St. Mary Spital outside Bishopsgate), and was acquired
"'for a cemetery, to the extent of an acre, by Sir Thomas Roe
"'in 1569.
"'Probably there were plague pits dug in it during more than
"'one of the great epidemics from 1593 to 1665.'
"The following Extract is made from 'Notes and Queries' dated August Lst, 1863.
"'Plague Pit.—Excavations are now being made for the works
"'of the North London Railway in Broad Street Buildings, and a
"'very large quantity of human bones have been met with.
"'The excavations do not extend over the whole space to be
"'covered by the works, but are only on the site to be occupied by
"'the brickwork. The bones being at about 4 feet from the
"'surface, and from thence to about 8 or 10 feet lower the ground
"'is full of them. They lie without any arrangement, and there
"'are no coffins except in a corner of one of the pits where the
"'remains of some, but comparatively few, have been found at a
"'lower part of the excavation. Probably some 300 or 400
"'skeletons have at least been taken out.
"'My Query is whether this is the site of a Plague pit?
"'The place is about 100 yards from the City wall, and perhaps
'''three times that distance from Bishopsgate, and somewhat further
"'from Moorgate. It would appear from the way in which the
"'bones lie, as if at first the bodies had been buried in coffins, but
"'afterwards they had been thrown in indiscriminately.'
"'Quisquis.'
"Note.—This Query appears to have remained unanswered. [M. 0. H.] "
ST. BARTHOLOMEW-THE-LESS.
Proposed Removal of Human Remains.
The Governors of St. Bartholomew's Hospital having given notice in the
"London Gazette " of their intention to apply next Session for Parliamentary
powers, inter alia, for the removal of human remains from the burial ground
and church of St. Bartholomew-the-Less, Mr. Remembrancer was instructed
by the Corporation to secure the insertion of a provision that such exhumation
and removal be done under the supervision and direction of the Corporation.