Location: England
Museum: n/a
Era: all
Status: Active Project
Tradition: all
Objective:
- Tracking exhumations
- Respect
HS2 website containing information on the archaeology found
Content:
See our Open Heritage Map for latest details of the HS2 route, finds, and other heritage within HAD’s remit. Submit your own here.
Progress Update on High Speed 2
For further information about some of the excavations which have featured the dead, please visit (*contains images of the dead):
https://www.hs2.org.uk/building-hs2/archaeology/dignity-care-respect/
By now, everyone will have surely heard about the huge new high-speed railway that will form the backbone of Britain’s future transport network. Phase One, from London to Birmingham, is already being constructed and should be complete around 2030. According to the HS2 website,
” It will connect towns and cities in the South, Midlands and North with faster, easier and more reliable travel that will put more opportunities within reach for millions of people for work, business and leisure. By increasing rail capacity, HS2 will free up space on existing lines for more commuter, regional and freight services. This will relieve overcrowding and improve reliability for millions of people using Britain’s railways…. Over 20,000 jobs are now supported by the project, with many thousands more jobs and UK businesses supported through the wider supply chain.”
The construction of the new railway is split into three phases:
- Phase 1 linking London and the West Midlands;
- Phase 2a linking the West Midlands and the North via Crewe; and
- Phase 2b completing the railway to Manchester, the East Midlands and the North.
Of these, the Government has recently announced that it is no longer funding phase 2a and b.
As can be imagined, this has already entailed carrying out probably the largest archaeology project ever conducted. More can be found out about it on HS2’s very complex and rich website at:
https://www.hs2.org.uk/building-hs2/archaeology/
Individual archaeology units, subcontracted to some of the UK’s largest building development companies, have carried out the work, as is now standard practice in the sector. So far, a large number of dead people have been exhumed and examined. Many of the exhumed people have already been featured in television programmes. However, it is not known how many reburials have actually taken place. As the website says about Phase 1:
“The careful excavation of the remains of ordinary people and celebrities of their time will give us an unprecedented opportunity to trace our ancestors and tell their stories. We are archaeologically excavating three known burial grounds. We’ll be able to look at the lives of people who lived and worked in London and Birmingham during a period of great significance and growth. We will also discover the people of rural Buckinghamshire.
As far as Christians who have been interred in formal burial grounds are concerned: HS2 confirmed to HAD in December 2021 that “all individuals removed from Consecrated sites will be returned to Consecrated ground, as required by our legal undertaking with the Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England. We are still working on the three Consecrated sites on Phase 1.”
HS2 also goes on to say to HAD that “all other individuals are safe in our care until the destinations for the Archive from the Phase 1 archaeological work have been decided. Archiving will be carried out in accordance with standard practice in England, following professional guidance for the treatment of archaeological human remains (over 100 years old).”
However, whatever the rights and wrongs of the project itself, protestors have set up camps to campaign against the loss of ancient woodlands, and residents in the southeast of England are up in arms about the route. There is concern too about the need to disturb so may dead people. It must be remembered that, were it not for HS2, all these people would have been left in their graves undisturbed. HAD will continue to monitor the situation and make representations when and if it feels the ancient dead are not being treated with full respect.
Here are a couple of examples of individuals who have been exhumed at Wellwick farm in Buckinghamshire as a result of the project, both are quoting from HS2’s website: https://www.hs2.org.uk/building-hs2/archaeology/wellwick-farm-archaeology/
Iron Age murder victim
During the excavation work at Wellwick Farm near Wendover, archaeologists discovered a skeleton of an adult male buried face down in a ditch with hands bound together under his pelvis. The unusual burial position suggests the Iron Age man may have been a victim of a murder or execution. Osteologists are currently examining the skeleton for further evidence of foul play. Dr. Rachel Wood, Project Archaeologist said: The death of the Wellwick Farm man remains a mystery to us but there aren’t many ways you end up in a bottom of a ditch, face down, with your hands bound. We hope our osteologists will be able to shed more light on this potentially gruesome death.
A place for the living and the dead
At Wellwick Farm, archaeologists believe the Bronze Age and Iron Age saw the addition of some domestic occupation with at least one roundhouse identified and possible structures such as animal pens and pits used for disposing food. During the Roman period, this occupation may have moved to the current location of Wendover but the Wellwick Farm site was still used for burials. In a square enclosure on the site, archaeologists discovered a skeleton in a coffin that was lined with lead, with the outer coffin likely made of wood. Archaeologists believe that the buried individual must have been someone of high status as they had the means to pay for such an expensive method of burial.
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