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(July 7, 1868), as the Peel Grove Cemetery. As the two are situated
within a few hundred yards of one another I considered that the state
of the bodies buried and the condition of the soil would probably be
almost identical in the two cemeteries.
The new line of railway is intended to be carried upon a series of
arches, and we were fortunate enough to hit upon a time when a deep
trench was being dug to receive a foundation of concrete for the purpose
of building one of the piers. One part of this trench was outside the
limit of the old burial ground, and the other portion within its walls,
at the time of our visit. The trench was about 8 feet wide, 12 feet
deep, and about 20 feet long. The first thing that struck the observer
was that the portion of the trench without the walls presented a section
of previously undisturbed maiden soil, shewing on the surface the
pathway, beneath that a seam 30 inches thick of loamy earth, and
below that again good gravel. The bottom was quite dry, but in other
portions of the ground water had been reached at a depth of 15 feet.
Then upon regarding that portion of the trench within the gravevard
it was seen that the surface of the soil was between three and
four feet above that outside, and that it consisted of mixed earth.
About four feet below the level of the graveyard surface—that is to
say, within 18 inches of the original surface of the ground—the trench
simply cut through a mass of coffins: these were laid with their heads
to the west, shoulder to shoulder, and head to foot, and piled closely
one on top of another. The coffins lie at right angles to the trench,
which was here irregularly expanded laterally owing to the necessary
removal of two piles of coffins. About eight bodies seem to have been
placed in each grave, and they took the place of the gravel mentioned
as existing at a similar level outside the cemetery wall. The interstices
batween the coffins were filled with what might once have been gravel,
but was now a dull-coloured, tenacious, and heavy clay-like soil—a
material without doubt consisting of original gravel, mixed with
organic matter to saturation.
The workmen were removing those coffins only which were in their
way, and were re-interring them in a deep pit a short distance off,
piling them one upon another, just as they were in their original place
of sepulture. The disinfectants used were sanitas and quick-lime.
The coffins seem to be in a fairly good state of preservation so far
as the woodwork is concerned, but the nails have rusted away. When
deprived of contiguous support the coffins easily fall to pieces, exposing
their contents.