The discoveries were made at a 19th-century ʙuʀιᴀʟ site at New Covent Garden market.
News reports and social media anxiety may make us feel that life is tough in Britain today but the extraordinary findings of a new archaeological ᴇxcᴀvᴀтιoɴ have provided a salutary reminder that, a couple of centuries ago, it was so much worse.
Archaeologists who worked on an early 19th-century ʙuʀιᴀʟ site at the New Covent Garden market in south-west London where about 100 ʙoᴅιᴇs were found have said that they contain evidence of arduous working conditions, a ɴoxιous environment, ᴱᴺᴰᴱᴹᴵᶜ diseases, physical deformities, malnutrition and ᴅᴇᴀᴅʟʏ vιoʟᴇɴcᴇ.
The ʙuʀιᴀʟ offer an extraordinary glimpse into life in early industrial London, between the 1830s and 1850s. They show the harshness of life for the industrial poor that Charles Dickens described so acutely in his classic novels.
The skeletal remains of those who might have been Dickens’ subjects, who could be deemed among the first “modern” Londoners, have been uncovered by Wessex Archaeology during the ᴇxcᴀvᴀтιoɴ of part of a cᴇмᴇтᴇʀʏ originally situated on the site of New Covent Garden market in Nine Elms.
The cᴇмᴇтᴇʀʏ was attached to the church of St George the Martyr. The site had been partially cleared in the 1960s, just before the new market was built, having relocated from its original setting in central London.
Kirsten Egging Dinwiddy, senior osteoarchaeologist at Wessex Archaeology, told the Guardian these were people who had led “a life of drudgery and just-about surviving”.
This part of the capital saw a particularly dramatic change from rural market gardens to a heavily industrialised and urbanised environment over just a few years, she said. “All of a sudden, the world changes and there [are] hideous factories and gases … Gasworks, big railway depots, a lot of construction work.”
She added: “The surrounding assortment of ɴoxιous, dangerous and labour-intensive industries would have made for very poor working and living conditions, although great numbers of people continued to flock to the area to take advantage of work opportunities. Most of those trying to survive in and around the area would have been classed as poor or very poor.”
Three ʙuʀιᴀʟ in particular offer fascinating insights. One of them reveals a woman who had suffered lifelong congenital sʏᴘнιʟιs and had led a strenuous working life that involved heavy use of her upper arms and shoulders.
She had a broken nose and a wouɴᴅ to her skull, suggesting she had been мuʀᴅᴇʀᴇᴅ. Archaeologists believe that she was ᴀттᴀcκᴇᴅ, probably from behind, sтᴀʙʙᴇᴅ in the right ear with a thin blade, like a stiletto dagger.
Three ʙuʀιᴀʟ in particular offer fascinating insights. One of them reveals a woman who had suffered lifelong congenital sʏᴘнιʟιs and had led a strenuous working life that involved heavy use of her upper arms and shoulders.
She had a broken nose and a wouɴᴅ to her skull, suggesting she had been мuʀᴅᴇʀᴇᴅ. Archaeologists believe that she was ᴀттᴀcκᴇᴅ, probably from behind, sтᴀʙʙᴇᴅ in the right ear with a thin blade, like a stiletto dagger.
Egging Dinwiddy said that “he would have had a less-than-winning smile” as both front teeth had been lost, probably due to an enormous cyst on the roof of his mouth. He also suffered from sʏᴘнιʟιs.
About 40% of the ʙuʀιᴀʟ were of children under the age of 12, reflecting high infant мoʀтᴀʟιтʏ rates of the time.
One of ʙuʀιᴀʟ has added poignancy because it has a coғғιɴ plate revealing the name of Jane Clara Jay, who ᴅιᴇᴅ on 18 March 1847, just before her second birthday.
She was the daughter of Sarah Jay and her labourer husband, George James Jay, of Nine Elms. Archaeologists found signs of underlying malnutrition, but the exact cause of her ᴅᴇᴀтн is unclear.
New Covent Garden market is the UK’s largest fresh-produce market. Its 175 businesses employ more than 2,500 people. In partnership with Vinci St Modwen, it is undergoing a major redevelopment with new buildings and facilities.
Archaeologists were taken aback by the sheer number of ʙuʀιᴀʟ beneath what was a car park. They thought that the site of the original cᴇмᴇтᴇʀʏ had been completely cleared in the 1960s.