These Saxons and Angles came together and gave us the basis of the English language. ibid.
A pair of spectacular shoulder clasps. ibid.
The miraculous story of the hoard’s survival. ibid.
This was Page One of England’s history. ibid.
Euston Station in Central London: one of the capital’s biggest train terminals. Tucked alongside it is St James Gardens. On the face of it, an ordinary park. But look closer and you’ll find clues that there’s a hidden history here. An incredible window into London’s past. Because beneath these seemingly unremarkable gardens lies a vast cemetery, and now part of Britain’s biggest ever archaeological dig. Britain’s Biggest Dig, BBC 2020
The huge excavations here at St James’s: it’s part of major investigations along the 150-mile route of HS2, the new high-speed rail link between London and Birmingham and beyond. But before a track is laid, archaeologists will investigate every hill and valley along the route. The law requires them to excavate and rebury any human remains. ibid.
The cheapest plots were in the east, and the highest status burials were in the west: closer to the chapel, closer to God. ibid.
We move up the line to another gigantic excavation to uncover how Victorian Birmingham grew into a boom town of the industrial revolution. Britain’s Biggest Dig II
London, Spring 2019: next to Euston Station the excavation of the 230-year-old St James’s burial ground is reaching its peak. Hundreds of archaeologists are unearthing the largest cemetery ever dug up in Britain. ibid.
During the Second World War this part of London was targeted by the Luftwaffe, and many bombs detonated in and around the cemetery. ibid.
Digs have already started along the route of HS2. Surveys indicate an important site awaits to be unearthed on average every mile along the route. ibid.
Summer of 2018: Next to the City’s famous Bullring, the Fox & Grapes pub, once part of a vibrant working-class community, is being demolished after it is being surveyed by archaeologists. Across the road lies the giant Park Street burial ground, where archaeologists face another huge task … excavations will range over five hectares … making way for the next 7-platform terminus of HS2. ibid.
At the start of the eighteenth century Birmingham was a market town of just 15,000 people. ibid.
Birmingham: Rare grave goods and coins left on the bones are revealing much about these people’s origins, beliefs and living conditions. And several skeletons show evidence of having been dissected. Britain’s Biggest Dig III
This whole area is destined to become the new 7-platform HS2 railway station. But before construction can begin and to the east of the cemetery site, archaeologists are hoping to find further evidence of the oldest surviving railway terminus in the world. Next to Park Street stands the last remnant of Curzon Street Station. Opened in 1838, less than 10 years after the pioneering locomotive, Stephenson’s Rocket, made railways a viable form of transport. Its neo-classical architecture mirrored the original Euston Station long since demolished at the other end of the line. ibid.
Over the road Boulton built the world’s first factory to pioneer mass production. But by 1848 that factory had closed and few factories like it were built in the city … Birmingham became an industrial boom town but without the factory revolution that was the hallmark of so many other industrial cities. ibid.
A burial operation on an almost industrial scale was begun – dozens of cart horses were hired to collect the dead. The Great Plague II: Decimation, BBC 2020
What an extraordinary journey from a poor cottage in Dorset to being buried twice: once in Westminster Abbey with his coffin held aloft by Rudyard Kipling, the prime minister and once with his heart being buried in Dorset. Thomas Hardy: Fate, Exclusion & Tragedy, Sky Arts 2021
This summer as the Ukraine surges towards independence the people have been re-burying the dead of crimes committed over fifty years ago. Secret History s1e2: Unquiet Graves, Channel 4 1991
It was in his will. Apparently, he wanted to be buried standing up, sticking out of the ground, so he could have a view of the house. The Gentlemen IV: An Unsympathetic Gentleman, mother to son, Netflix 2024