Remains unearthed during Metrolink city centre work
Special burial ceremony held after forgotten graveyard is found
The remains of over 200 bodies,unearthed in a forgotten graveyard during city centre Metrolink works, were interred at Manchester’s Southern Cemetery today.
The graveyard was discovered at a shallow depth under city centre Cross Street in early 2013 – within the footprint of the new Metrolink Second City Crossing.
The remains, which date from around the 1720s to the 1850s, were found to be members of the ‘non-conformist’ movement Cross Street Chapel, part of the Unitarian Church.
Members of the church attended the special ceremony today, hearing blessings by Reverend Cody Coyne as the remains were interred in their final resting place.
Following early ground investigation work, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) was surprised to uncover more than double the remains initially identified in church burial records.
In total, the remains of 255 people were found at the graveyard area on Cross Street. Seven sealed lead coffins were buried at Southern Cemetery in 2015, with the final burials taking place today.
The exhumation work was carried out sensitively and respectfully, and away from public view under cover of a large tent, by specialist archaeologists CFA Archaeology.
The Greater Manchester Archaeological Advisory Service (GMAAS) and Manchester City Council Environmental Health Officers monitored the work throughout the process.
Peter Cushing, TfGM Metrolink Director, said: “Delivering a major construction project through a busy city centre always brings challenges, but unearthing a former graveyard is certainly unusual.
“Throughout the process we’ve ensured this work was carried out with the utmost care, respect and sensitivity and today’s ceremony at Southern Cemetery reflected this.
“I look forward to reading the final report on this fascinating archaeological project, which we hope will reveal much about life in 18thcentury Manchester.”
The archaeological investigation at Cross Street has provided a rare opportunity to learn more about conditions in 18thcentury Manchester.
Where identification has been possible, remains have been buried in family groupings. One of the first to be buried in 2014 was the former trustee of the Cross Street chapel, Mary Hilton, who died in 1831 aged 71 years, and was buried alongside her husband, Thomas Hilton, aged 56.
A final report on the three year long archaeological study is expected in the spring, and will provide some details of those buried as well as the causes of death.
During the Metrolink construction work, TfGM also uncovered the vaulted crypt of St Peter's Church, dating back to 1788, under St Peter's Square.