Mass grave found at supermarket

Jan 4 2008 by Liz Hands, The Journal

THE remains of more than 200 people, thought to be from a plague outbreak more than 200 years ago, have been exhumed after a huge unmarked grave was found under a supermarket construction site.

The skeletons, dating back to the 1700s, were removed in a planned exhumation on land being prepared for a new Asda store in South Shields, Tyne and Wear.

Archaeological experts from Oxford were called in to oversee the exhumation process last year.

The bones are now stored in Oxford and the long-term aim is to re-bury them in a designated plot at a nearby cemetery.

A spokesman for Henry Boot, the Asda site developer, confirmed the bodies had been recovered from an unmarked burial ground.

Yesterday the Reverend Raymond Burr, of adjacent St Hilda’s Church, said he had been unaware of the exhumation.

Part of the current Asda development site formed part of St Hilda’s original churchyard more than a century ago.

The Rev Burr said: “This comes as a surprise. The remains were probably found outside the boundary of the original churchyard.

“I am surprised there were so many. Four or five years ago the police stopped an excavation when the skeletal remains of two people were found elsewhere. They were re-interred at St Hilda’s. But there has never been anything on this massive a scale.”

The Rev Burr speculated that some of the remains may be those of plague victims.

He added: “There was a plague around that period, which might account for the high number of remains found.”

South Tyneside Councillor John Anglin said: “I’ve never heard a murmur about it. I was aware there was always a chance remains could be found.

“In medieval times bodies would be buried as close to churches as possible.”