Excavation of the Bedlam Burial Ground (AD 1569-1738) for the new Crossrail station at Liverpool Street – a metrical analysis

Summary

An in-depth desk study and evaluation trial pits had indicated that this site, just outside the old City wall, preserved a wealth of archaeology. Thousands of graves from the Bedlam burial ground, which was in use from the 16th to the early 18th century AD, were shown to be present. The metrical analysis presented in this paper looks at the quantitative data collected before and during the burial ground excavation works. The paper considers questions related to programme, resourcing and risk management for historical burial ground clearance and archaeological investigation.