Aldgate Underground station that’s built on top of 1,000 skeletons

Across the capital there are hundreds of stations but when getting around London it may not come to your attention that some important history lies directly under your feet. Back in 2013 a mass grave was found when Crossrail was being built at Liverpool Street and it may not be the only one.

In fact, an ancient tale goes that underneath Aldgate station there are hundreds of skeletons- this mass burial site was reportedly made during the plague when it was the site of a massive pit grave. The station, in the City of London, is entrenched in rumours which say that when workers were building the station in the 1860s, the huge plague pit was discovered by workers.

The massive grave, which was reportedly 40 feet in length and about 16 feet in width, contained around 1,000 bodies. Historical books suggest that the bodies were hastily buried, and without coffins, care or ceremony. It is thought that any bodies which might be under the station were put there when the Great Plague hit London in 1665.

READ MORE: ‘I had stones thrown at me and got called a monster for being trans and overweight’

In 2013, when work was being done to build Crossrail, a plague pit thought to be the biggest found yet in London was discovered in Charterhouse Square, Farringdon. Dozens of skeletons were found, although it is believed that as many as 50,000 bodies could be buried in the area.

The Museum of London was brought in to excavate and study the remains. The fact the skeletons were found 200 years after they were buried means for two centuries Londoners walked the streets of the capital without even knowing that dead corpses lay beneath their feet.

Jay Carver, from Crossrail, told Channel 4 News at the time: “We found something that we don’t find very often and that’s a group of skeletons that we think died at a specific date and we have dating evidence to prove that from the pottery that was found in the graves with the skeletons.”

It is not completely known whether there are skeletons below Aldgate but as the old saying goes, there is no smoke without fire.

Do you wish to share a story? Contact finn.byrne@reachplc.com

Want more from MyLondon? Sign up to our daily newsletters for all the latest and greatest from across London here.