Gillian Tindall says we should lay to rest the story that Cross Bones graveyard in Southwark was a special burial ground for prostitutes and other outcasts

Pleased though I am to see that the Cross Bones graveyard in Southwark (corner of Redcross and Union streets) is going to figure in a Historic England exhibition (Report, 30 July), could we lay to rest the modern story that it was a special burial ground for prostitutes and other “outcasts”? There are lost burial grounds all over Southwark, as a convenient area with spare space for centuries just outside the City of London, and though in the late middle ages the district was also convenient for brothels there is not a scrap of evidence to connect the Cross Bones yard with them.

In 1673, by which time the brothels had moved elsewhere, the ground was annexed to St Saviour’s (today the cathedral) as an overflow yard. All town parishes were needing extra space by then, and people of all sorts except the rather grand were buried in them. Till well into the 19th century, most ordinary people had no individual graves marked in any permanent way.

The Cross Bones yard, unlike many others in the area, was consecrated and should therefore never have been threatened (as it was circa 2000) by plans for a permanent building. All credit to those who saved it from disappearing – but could we be a little less sentimental about our ancestors?

Gillian Tindall

London

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