News on HS2 in Camden

Following the excavations at St James’s Gardens, and working with the Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England, we have agreed with Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey for reburials to take place there.

In October 2018, HS2 archaeologists began the excavation of one of London’s 18th and 19th century burial grounds, to the west of Euston station in St James’s Gardens. The site, which was used as a cemetery for 63 years, before being converted into to a public garden for the remaining 165 years, is required for the construction of the UK’s new high speed railway line and the new station. The site was home to over 50,000 of London’s deceased.

This fascinating insight into London’s past uncovered through the excavations at St James’s Gardens is currently being showcased in a BBC documentary series, ' HS2 – The Biggest Dig '. The three part series continues on Tuesday 22nd September on BBC Two and is available on BBC iPlayer.

The relocations follow a long history of London reburials at Brookwood Cemetery, which was conceived in 1849 by the London Necropolis Company to house London’s deceased at a time when the capital was unable to accommodate increasing numbers. Brookwood was connected to the capital by a special railway branch line, and the capital’s dead were taken there by hearse train carriages.

The first major reburials took place in 1862 when the construction of Charing Cross Railway station required the demolition of a burial ground in Southwark. Euston station was extended westwards in the 1940s and some of the occupants of St James’s Gardens required reburial. Those remains were rehomed at Brookwood, so this agreement to rebury the remaining occupants there means that the buried population will remain together. All the human remains are to be reburied in consecrated ground in line with our commitment to the Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England.

A team of over 200 archaeologists and related specialists undertook the careful archaeological work, in advance of construction. They have already discovered much about the lives and deaths of ordinary Londoners’ as well as uncover the remains of notable people including explorers, soldiers, artists and musicians. Further analysis of a proportion of the human remains will tell us more about the individuals who inhabited London at this exciting time in its history.

It was announced last year that the remains of one of St James’s Gardens population, Captain Matthew Flinders, the British explorer who first circumnavigated Australia and gave the country its name, will be buried in his home village of Donington, Lincolnshire. This follows a request made by the descendants of the Flinders family and the local community for his remains to be returned to the village where he grew up.

For more information about HS2 please contact our HS2 Helpdesk team on 08081 434 434 or email hs2enquiries@hs2.org.uk