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15
east side of Red Cross Street, in the Parish of St. Saviour, Southwark, and
within the district of your Memorialists. Messrs. Spicer & Sons have also,
your Memorialists are aware, applied to you for your license for the removal
of human remains from the said ground, with a view to the erection of
buildings upon the sarao.
"The area of the said burial ground is about 13,000 superficial feet
in its entirety. In consideration of being allowed to build upon a portion
of the site, Messrs. Spicer propose to surrender and to lay out as an open
space for the use of the public about one eighth of an acre, being the
remainder of the site after the erection of the proposed buildings and the
formation of a private roadway for their own use, as shown upon a plan
submitted by them.
"The burial ground in question, is a disused burial ground within
the meaning of the Disused Burial Grounds Act, 1884, as amended by the
open Spaces Act, 1887. The fee simple of the ground was formerly vested
in Trustees elected by tho Vestry of tho Parish of Saint Saviour, known as
the Rectory Trustees; and. by the Saint Saviour's, Southwark (Church
Rate Abolition) Act, 1883, the said Trustees wero empowered to sell and
dispose of the said ground.
"In accordance with and in exercise of the power of sale so conferred
upon them, the said Rectory Trustees, in the year 1885, sold the fee
simple of the burial ground to ono Oyler. The same was duly
conveyed to him; but. finding that he was precluded by the operation of
the said Act of 1884 from erecting buildings upon the ground a« he had
intended, he applied to the Court of Chancer)' to be released from his purchase,
and an order to that effect was made by Vice-Chancellor Bacon.
"Your Memorialists submit that subsequent legal decisions given in
relation to other burial grounds, do not affect the decision in the case
referred to, the judgment of the Vice-Chancellor being res judicata in
respect of the said burial ground.
"Apart, however, from the legal aspect of the case, it is submitted
that it would be undesirable and contrary to public policy for any part of
the Cross Bones Burial Ground to be built upon, for the reasons following,
namely:—
(a.) "The area of the ground remaining after the erection of buildings
as proposed by Messrs. Spicer Sons, would be so small
as to be of little or no value for the purpose suggested, and the
irregular conformation of the ground proposed to be surrendered,
would render it difficult to manage ; lead to abuses,
and be objectionable on moral grounds.
(b.) "The London County Council, it is understood, decline to undertake
the responsibility of the custody, watching and maintenance
of so small a piece of ground.
(c.) "The locality is a very crowded one, and even though not now
accessible to the public, the air-hole afforded by the open space
is no small advantage.
(d.) "It is a desirable space to have as a protection in case of fire,
such as that which occurred recently in the City of London,
and which would have spread much further but for the open
space afforded by Cripplegate Churchyard, which is about the
same size as the Cross Bones.