The lost souls of 'Bedlam' are found: Asylum's ancient graveyard is unearthed beneath London as Crossrail dig reveals patients' bones

500-year-old graveyard near Liverpool Street found during Crossrail works

Cemetery contains 20,000 skeletons including patients of Bedlam asylum

Other finds include rare Roman coins and an entire stretch of Roman road

A 13-mile high speed tunnel is currently being built under Central London



They were the tortured souls incarcerated in the world’s first mental asylum.

The uproar, chaos and barbarism that surrounded them gave the place its famous nickname, which has resonated for centuries as a byword for madness – Bedlam.

Now the ‘lost souls of Bedlam’ are giving up their dark secrets, yards from one of London’s busiest railway stations.

Scroll down for video



Taking care: Findings at Broadgate ticket hall at Liverpool Street as layers of London's history are uncovered Hundreds of skeletons, including the remains of patients from what was officially called Bethlem – or Bethlehem – Hospital, have been discovered in an old graveyard a few feet beneath the ground at Liverpool Street station on what is now part of Europe’s biggest building site. RELATED ARTICLES Previous

1

Next They may look like stained-glass windows but these dazzling... The Zombie Ward: The chilling story of how 'depressed' women... Share this article Share It is thought the works, for the £15billion Crossrail project, will eventually yield up to 4,000 bodies, some dating back 450 years. The graveyard, built on the Bethlem Hospital’s vegetable patch in the 1560s after churchyards around the city started to overflow, was used to bury London’s poor and religious non-conformists as well as inmates from the asylum. Extraordinary: Archaeologist Matt Ginnever at Liverpool Street station uncovering the burial ground

Graveyard: An archaeologist digs up skeletons from a burial ground near Liverpool Street station

Discovery: The cemetery is named after the Bethlem Royal Hospital and holds many of its patients Bethlem, whose name quickly became pronounced ‘Bedlam’ by Londoners, was founded in 1247 by Simon FitzMary, a wealthy former Sheriff of London, as a priory dedicated to St Mary of Bethlem. By 1403, the majority of its patients were lunatics. Others suffered from epilepsy, learning disabilities and dementia. Inside the squalid single-storey building that housed 12 cells, a kitchen, staff accommodation and an exercise yard, inmates were manacled and chained – and treated as a tourist attraction by Londoners who paid a penny to stare at them. Patients, usually poor, were given treatments including restraint, dousing with water, beatings and isolation.

Works: The graveyard has come to light during the excavation of a tunnel under London for Crossrail trains

Conditions inside Bedlam were depicted by William Hogarth in his 18th century drawings A Rake’s Progress, charting the decline of a merchant’s son from wealthy heir to asylum inmate, via debtor’s jail.

In 1676, the asylum moved to nearby Moorfields, then in 1815 to Southwark. Now the Bethlem Royal Hospital, it has been in Beckenham, Kent, since 1930 and is part of the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust.

At the Crossrail site, it will not be possible to distinguish Bedlam patients from other dead, as mental illness will not have left any physical scars on the skeletons. In most cases, identification will be difficult, if not impossible, because although some were buried in coffins, any name plates recovered have been too rusty to read.

The dig’s manager, Nick Elsden from the Museum of London Archaeology, is part of a team of more than 100 archaeologists who are examining each of the 40 sites being dug up for Crossrail, the 73-mile rail line that will link the City, Canary Wharf, the West End and Heathrow to commuter areas east and west of London. Major operation: More than 100 archaeologists have worked on the Crossrail excavations over four years

Anonymous: The identity of most of the bodies will never be discovered because of a lack of burial records

Overflow: The graveyard was established in the 16th century as the cemeteries of parish churches were filling up Investigation: 4,000 skeletons will be disinterred and studied before being reburied elsewhere Back in time: Archaeologist Mike Tunnicliffe holding flint as he and his team have been uncovering layers of London's history including the a 'tool-making factory' including 150 pieces of flint from the Mesolithic Age

Roman: This brass sestertius coin from the site dates back to 30 AD and bears the image of Emperor Hadrian Mr Elsden said: ‘This site is a rare, perhaps unprecedented, opportunity. This is a major roadway outside one of London’s busiest railway stations. You don’t get to dig that up normally. Everyone’s been running around Liverpool Street for years not thinking they are walking around on bodies from one of the densest burial grounds in London.’ The bones, some from children, will be examined for clues as to how their owners lived and died. There is already evidence that some suffered from rickets. It is thought other bones will bear the scars of late-stage syphilis.

Valuable: A 16th-century Venetian gold coin with a hole enabling it to be worn around the neck Shiny: A gold sequin, Leonardo Loredan dated 1501-1521AD, discovered at the Liverpool Street site Amazing: Lead archeologist Jay Carver holding a 16th century gold coin found at the Liverpool Street site Ancient: Roman horse shoes (left) found at Liverpool Street station. Archeologist Danny Harrison is also pictured (right) at work at the Mesolithic tool-making factory

Uncovered: Archeologist Rob Tutt working on the Roman road discovered at the Liverpool Street site

Digging: Archeologist Rob Hartle is pictured hard at work at the Liverpool Street Crossrail site in central London

Learning: An archaeologist from the Museum of London next to a map of the site being excavated



Location: The cemetery is located next to Liverpool Street, near the original site of the hospital Other finds at Liverpool Street include the project’s first piece of gold – a 16th century Venetian coin. It had been pierced, so it is likely to have been worn as a pendant. The site also holds earlier secrets. Some 11ft below the skeletons lie the remains of a Roman road studded with 2,000-year-old horseshoes – hoof-shaped ‘sandals’ made of metal and secured by leather strapping. Roman coins have also been found, one from around AD130 depicting the Emperor Hadrian. Matthew Symonds, editor of Current Archaeology magazine, said: ‘What’s wonderful about this graveyard is that you are looking at a cross-section of society. ‘Historical records will be from the more educated and better off sections, but this is something that tells us how everyday people lived their lives. That kind of glimpse into the past is invaluable.’