Thousands of bodies dug up on HS2 history line
THOUSANDS of skeletons are being carefully removed from burial grounds as archaeologists investigate 10,000 years of history along the new HS2 high-speed rail route.
In what the archaelogists call Europe's largest dig, more than 1,000 experts are excavating the 150-mile route from London to the West Midlands. Neolithic tools, medieval pottery and Victorian time capsules have been discovered.
Along with a burial ground dig at Park Street, Birmingham, excavations will also take place at St James's Gardens, next to London's Euston station, where 60,000 were laid to rest from 1790 to 1853.
Notable people buried there include Gordon Riots instigator Lord George Gordon, Captain Matthew Flinders, the first person to circumnavigate Australia, and Bill Richmond, the first black boxer to be internationally recognised.
A four-part BBC series on the discoveries will be shown in 2019-2020.
Other areas investigated include a prehistoric site outside London, a Romano-British town in Fleet Marston, Aylesbury, and a wartime bombing decoy site in Lichfield, Staffordshire. Historic England chief executive Duncan Wilson said: “With the building of HS2 comes a once-ina-generation opportunity to improve our understanding of how people have shaped England's landscapes over thousands of years.”