Reburial of children’s remains discovered in Luton archaeological dig

In February 2011 I attend a public lecture at the University of Bedfordshire about archaeology. The first of the two presentations that evening was from Wesley Keir of Albion Archaeology who described the discoveries made during the building of the University’s new Campus Centre.

Archaeological investigations had been carried out on the western edge of the site of the medieval castle next to St Mary’s Church. It was fascinating to hear about what had been uncovered. This included part of the medieval moat, the post holes of a timber framed building in the castle grounds, and part of a later children’s cemetery. As part of that discovery the archaeologists had found the skeletal remains of eight children who had died at sometime in the 17th-19th centuries.

I was reminded of this when I heard that those children had been re-buried in the Crawley Road Cemetery on Thursday 23 May.

Mr Keir was quoted as saying;

“Though the majority of the archaeological remains uncovered during the excavation were associated with Fulk de Breaute’s castle, the post-medieval children’s graves were particularly interesting and unexpected.

“Lying outside the formal churchyard of the nearby St Mary’s Church, their location is somewhat puzzling, though it’s possible that the land had been leased to the church or that the location of the burials reflects social and/or religious marginality of the time.”

More about this can be found on the University’s website: “Reburial of human remains unearthed at Uni building site“

This content was originally posted on my old Strange Thoughts blog.