Metrolink engineers building a new city centre tram crossing have discovered the remains of over 100 people under Cross Street.

The grim but fascinating discovery was made during test digs six months ago for the Second City Crossing, it has emerged.

The remains are thought to have been buried around 200 years ago by members of the Cross Street Chapel, part of the Unitarian Church.

But the site, directly beneath where the new tracks will be laid, has now been temporarily closed off, while archaeologists work to excavate the bodies.

They will be interred elsewhere, possibly at Manchester’s Southern Cemetery.

Specialists charged with working on the unusual project expect to glean vital insights into life in 18th century Manchester from the site and bodies.

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Alan Myerscough, Chapel Keeper and organist at the Unitarian Church said church officials always suspected bodies would be found - but were not prepared for such a large number.

He said: “That was a surprise and the archaeologists have told me they are surprised too.”

He said the chapel had been on-site for 300 years - but with three different buildings, adding: “In our first incarnation we had a graveyard before Manchester was a city so as it grew around us, the graves got built upon and now the road takes up most of the area, with the bodies under it.”

Alan said they had found a plan of the original graveyard - and discovered the names of some of those buried there.

Because the find was made during initial test works, the excavation, expected to take three months, was worked into planning by transport bosses who appealed for potential descendants - but to no avail.

Peter Cushing, TfGM director, said: “We are working very closely with church officials to ensure re-interments are carried out respectfully, and we hope that the history being uncovered will be of interest to the archaeological society.”

And Dr Andrew Myers, a senior planning archaeologist, said: “The archaeological investigation and recording of the Cross Street Chapel burials provides a rare opportunity.

“We can learn directly from the remains of individuals who were part of the non-conformist movement in Manchester, which played a key role promoting campaigns for social reforms.”

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What is The Cross Street Chapel?

Once known as The Dissenters’ Meeting House, Cross Street Chapel has been the meeting place of Unitarians in central Manchester since the 1660s, when the Act of Uniformity was passed.

The act required all clergymen to abide by the Book of Common Prayer, and those who refused were not allowed to hold certain positions despite the fact most people in England had never seen the book as it was so new.

When 2,000 clergymen refused and were ejected from their roles, one, Rev Henry Newcome, built a place of worship of his own, along with his followers. The Dissenters’ Meeting House, later known as Cross Street Chapel, was opened in 1664.

Destroyed by enemy action in 1940, the original chapel no longer stands but was replaced in 1959. The congregation were forced to use a prefabricated building erected in the ruins until the new chapel could be built.

It was in 1997 that the chapel as we know it today was built to suit the needs of modern worshippers.

Attendees of the chapel have even included Manchester novelist Elizabeth Gaskell whose husband William was a minister, and it is the current meeting place of the Gaskell Society.