Bodies of Evidence
Case studies
Medieval coffins
Who was buried under St Andrews Church?
In November 2001, experts started to clear hundreds of coffins from the
crypt of St Andrews Church in Holborn, London. As the result of bombing
during the Second World War, debris had fallen into the crypt, damaging
the coffins. Over the years, the rubble started to soak up moisture and
began to threaten the stability of the whole building.
The specialised work has required exhumation specialists and archaeologists.
Everyone working at the site has been vaccinated against smallpox due
to the risk of infection from the coffins.
Historians believe that the coffins contain the bodies of wealthy and
influential members of the Holborn congregation buried there prior to
1831, and going back as far as the 14th century. They will be reinterred
at the City of London Cemetery, where the remains of less prosperous members
of the congregation were moved in 1872 to make way for the Holborn Viaduct.
Finally, the remains of rich and poor will be reunited.
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The Romanovs
Vladimir Lenin
Taung Child
St Clare
The Inuit Women
Witch burial
Barber surgeon
Slave grave
Turin shroud
The disappeared
Medieval coffins
Java Man
Animal mummies
Neanderthals
Hybrid skeleton
Cherchen Man
Body Farm
Mummy medicine
Tooth decay
Maronite mummies
Tooth implant
Polynesians
Andes mummies
Lefthandedness
Ice-Age Footprints
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