At least 11 human skeletons found buried in city centre roundabout
The human remains were found buried deep within the roundabout in Peterborough city centre (Picture: Paul Marriott Photography)
Several human skeletons were found buried during refurbishment of a major city centre roundabout.
The mystery remains were unearthed by construction workers digging up the Queensgate roundabout in Peterborough.
Police were called after the first skeletons were discovered as the site could have been a crime scene.
After no criminal link was found, an archaeologist was brought in to examine the skeletons.
Construction workers digging up the Queensgate roundabout for a refurb first thought the skeletons could be linked to a crime scene (Picture: Paul Marriott Photography)
They were part of a Victorian cemetery which existed between Peterborough railway station and the Queen Street Iron Works, now a modern-day shopping centre.
The cemetery was closed for burials in 1858 and the site was cleared in the 1970s.
An overlaid map shows the location of the 19th-century St John’s Graveyard where the Queensgate roundabout, Crescent Bridge and subways are now located (Picture: Peterborough City Council)
Peterborough City Council said: ‘A total of 11 skeletons have been discovered so far on land within the Queensgate roundabout. Since the discovery, the contractors have increased site security.
‘These remains are part of a cemetery which existed on this site in the Victorian period and was closed to new burials in 1858. Records show that remains from this cemetery were cleared when subways were built at the roundabout during the 1970s.
‘The speed at which we were digging has had to slow down, so we don’t damage any remains. This may mean a delay of four weeks. We are looking at options to reduce this delay in later phases of the project and will announce any timetable updates in due course.’
Archaeologists are currently searching the area for any more skeletons.
The remains will be reburied in another Church of England cemetery in the city, the council said.
It said these skeletons were not found previously during the 1970s clearance because of the construction level, while the latest redevelopment goes deeper into the ground.
Elsewhere, the HS2 construction has become a treasure trove for archaeological findings.
In Buckinghamshire, where the controversial Chiltern Tunnel is, experts dug up a Roman mausoleum, a Norman church near Stoke Mandeville built shortly after the Norman Conquest, a Neolithic stone circle similar to Stonehenge and an Anglo-Saxon burial site in Wendover.
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