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70
I wrote to the Home Secretary explaining matters and obtained his
licence to have the coffins removed and reburied in another part of the
burial ground.
The old Chapel, which is much out of repair, was built about 1766,
and the foundations rest upon masses of bones, showing that the burial
ground was in existence before the Chapel was built; indeed, it would
appear from the human remains unearthed, that this burial ground must
have existed for a long time prior to 1766.
The foundation walls not being sufficiently substantial it was
necessary to have them underpinned, and in carrying out this work a
further discovery of coffins was made beneath the floor of the basement
of the Chapel and in bricked-up alcoves on either side. These alcoves,
which were six in number, on either side of the basement, contained 112
coflins together with a large quantity of loose human remains.
The burials in this basement, which appears to have been excavated
after the Chapel was built, commenced about 1813 and the last burial
was in 1832.
In consequence of the further discovery of human remains I wrote
again to the Home Secretary informing him of the new discovery and
stating that, in my opinion, the coffins were a danger to health and
must be removed to a cemetery outside of London, and requesting, at the
same time, that the Home Office Inspector might view the place with
me.
Dr. Branthwaite inspected the place with me and came to the
conclusion that the conditions were a danger to health, and subsequently
I received a letter from the Home Secretary informing me that the
Inspector recommended:—"that the brick alcoves on either side of the
hall in which remains are at present stored, should be totally removed,
the outside walls lined with cement, and the floor over the whole site
covered with a foot of concrete and cement,” and that the licence would
be issued by the Home Secretary when arrangements had been made for
the removal of the bodies.
On the 3rd January the licence reached me, in which the following
conditions were stated:—
(1) That the removal be effected with due care and attention to
decency, early in the morning.
(2) That freshly made ground lime be freely sprinkled over the
coffins, the soil, or any other matter that may be offensive;
and