I tend to read a lot of historical nonfiction. Usually this serves two purposes. One, it's research for my own writing. Two, when I'm editing (my full-time day job) and writing a ton of fantasy, I get a little overwhelmed by it all and in my downtime I need to read something else. I don't edit historical nonfiction, so it's one of the only genres I can read anymore without my inner editor giving me a play-by-play monologue as I go.

Last night I started reading this book. It's about this serial killer in the 1800s, a man by the name of Dr. Cream. At the start of this book, to establish the time and place a bit, readers are introduced to late 1800s London, the seedier parts, where Dr. Cream lived and hunted for victims. In so doing this, the author discusses some of the problems London faces at this time, such as an explosion of population. About 50,000 people died each year, and there just were not enough places to bury them (Burial space in London remained at around 300 acres). So, a few people though of this great idea: How about a Necropolis Railway?

The London Necropolis Railway

London Necropolis Railway, 1903. Credit to National Geographic.

Operating from 1854 to 1941, the London Necropolis Railway moved roughly 2,000 bodies a year during its peak operation (1894-1903). Along with the dead, it would carry the families and loved ones of the deceased as well. On a route that took them 23 miles outside the city, to a cemetery called Brookwood Cemetery near Woking, Surrey. According to the BBC, "Guests could leave with their dearly departed at 11:40am, attend the burial, have a funeral party at one of the cemetery's two train stations (complete with home-cooked ham sandwiches and fairy cakes), and then take the same train back, returning to London by 3:30pm."

Between the years of 1801-1851, the population in London more than doubled, going from just under a million people in 1801, to over two million people in 1851. More people means less space. It also means more dead. So, to deal with this overcrowding problem, at first, many cemeteries attempted to make more room by unearthing bodies at night and cremating them. Or, they'd unearth graves, even new graves, and scatter the contents to make room for more bodies. This, however, wasn't a long term solution to any problem, and as you'd imagine, people probably got pretty upset when they learned Dear Aunt Sally had been unearthed the other night, and her remains scattered so that jerk down the street can have her eternal resting spot.

Basically, this was a short term, problematic solution to a big issue London was facing.

Furthermore, according to Wikipedia, "Decaying corpses contaminated the water supply, and the city suffered regular epidemics of cholera, smallpox, measles, and typhoid. A Royal Commission established in 1842 to investigate the problem concluded that London's burial grounds had become so overcrowded that it was impossible to dig a new grave without cutting through an existing one. In 1848-49 a cholera epidemic killed 14,601 people in London and overwhelmed the burial system completely.

In the wake of public concerns following the cholera epidemics and the findings of a Royal Commission, the Act to Amend the Laws Concerning the Burial of the Dead in the Metropolis (Burial Act) was passed in 1851. Under the Burials Act, new burials were prohibited in what were then the build-up areas of London."

So it was that two gentlemen named Sir Richard Broun and Richard Spyre posed this idea. Why don't we use a massive conveyance to move the dead outside of London? And why don't we buy this huge tract of land, 23 miles, to be exact, wherein we can put the dead. We'll call it the London Necropolis. And, bonus, it's far larger than any anticipated city growth, so there shouldn't ever be a problem with too many bodies and not enough space.

Plus, London already had a line that connected to Woking. It was established in 1838, and that existing line could be used to transport the bodies and the dead to the Necropolis. It would be pretty easy, and pretty cheap.

"Huzzuh!" shouted all the politicians. (I don't actually know if they said "Huzzuh" put I picture it. These guys in suits standing around holding big cigars in smoke filled rooms with dodgy yellow light and brandy snifters. "Huzzuh, chap! You did it.")

On June 30, 1852, work began on the line. On November 7, 1854 the cemetery was consecrated and opened. On November 13, the first scheduled train was set to make its sad journey.

This wasn't all smooth and easy going, though. Some people thought the train was grotesque, too mechanical for something this spiritual. Some also worried that trains used to transport the dead would be used later for living people, during work time commutes and the like, and wouldn't that mixing of the dead and living be... uncomfortable? This last concern is why both the train and the line had its own dedicated service.

So, how exactly would this work? What were the logistics involved?

Basically, a site for the Necropolis Railway Station was selected near the existing Waterloo Bridge Station (now London Waterloo station). This site was chosen because it already had two huge railway arches which acted as ideal storage places for bodies. Plus, there were places to hold funerals and the like. Nearby stations allowed for normal transit for daily commuters. This allowed mourners to go to the Necropolis Railway Station in relative privacy without the nearby regular public invading their mourning. The station was equipped with mortuaries, platforms, and two waiting rooms (one for upper and middle class individuals, and one for... everyone else.)

The site was also chosen for its easy accessibility. Due to proximity to three bridges, the Thames, and several important roadways, the station could be easily accessed by both river and road.

I should note, due to this station blocking expansion of a tube line, in 1899 an agreement was struck and the London Necropolis Railway was moved to a station on Westminster Bridge Road. The railway was moved in 1902, and the earlier station demolished.

When a loved one died, the family would call upon a horse-drawn carriage to take the bodies to the cemetery. They'd usually have a funeral procession which would end at the station. Then, at the station, elevators would lift the coffins up, and place them on the train (or store them, if needed). The train had leather straps to keep the coffins secure, and people would board the carriages, and ride along with them.

According to the BBC, "The train--outfitted with leather straps to keep the coffins secure--would carry both he mourners and the deceased. Fares were capped by the Act of Parliament that had established the railway, and remained constant throughout the railway's lifetime: six shillings for a return first-class ticket (in 1854, this was worth about £35 in today's terms), down to two shillings (about £8) in third. For the dead, it cost £1 in first class and 2s6d in third."

There were two stations at the cemetery where mourners could choose to get off. South Station was where the Anglican section of the cemetery was, and North Station for "non-conformists" (a title which I ran across numerous times and cannot stop thinking is absolutely the best label for everyone who isn't Anglican I've ever heard.)

Despite the peace and space this place offered, apparently the London public never really took to it the way anyone had hoped. Most people wanted to be buried, or have their loved ones buried, near the places where they had lived and worked. Moving a body outside the city to bury it somewhere they'd likely never been before was an unappealing choice for many. Plus, the train only ran once a day on a fixed schedule, so timing was inflexible. In 1909, the motor hearse was introduced which also changed transportation dynamics.

Then, on April 16, 1941, during one of the worst nights of the World War II Blitz, the station was destroyed. At this point, the train was only operating once or twice a week, so rather than spend the money to rebuild the station and the line, operators decided to just shut it down completely.

A replica of the station still stands and Brookwood Cemetery, but now all that remains in London is its former offices and a Victorian facade.

Immediate aftermath of bombing, 1941, from Wiki Commons

London Underground and Plague Pits

While I was researching this, I ended up diving down this really wild rabbit hole involving the London Tube and rumors of plague pits. Back in the 1600s, the Bubonic Plague swept through the area. This wasn't the first time plague had visited London, but it was of the most deadly, killing about 100,000 people and roughly 2/5th of the population.

Rumors had it, that the London Tube, its creation two-hundred years after this event, was built in such a circuitous manner to avoid plague pits, or vast pits where the bodies of the dead were unceremoniously buried together, making them either impossible to bore through, or too cumbersome to move, so the rail lines moved around them instead.

1928 London Underground map, credit to Daily Mail.

The truth, however, is... its own brand of dark.

London is a very old city, and people have been living and dying there for a long, long time. Just about everywhere you can put a body, has a body, and so building the tube system required a lot of thought. To create these lines, people had (and still have to) consider where all the known cemeteries are, and then build around them, or deal with them accordingly. Occasionally over the history of construction, bodies and burials have been unearthed unexpectedly.

According to this article, "There were a few mentions of Underground construction stumbling upon human remains, even if not plague victims, but they were nearly all found rather recently. In 1992, 160 skeletons, mainly of destitute women and babies, were removed from a crowded 19th-century burial ground at Redcross Way during tunneling for the Jubilee Line extension. Two years later, 21 years of digging for Jubilee's new Stratford depot wrapped up at the burial ground of the Abbey of St Mary's, Stratford Langthorne; 647 graves were excavated."

Alan Jackson, in his London Necropolis Railway book says, "Much of the excavation was made through the dust and debris of past ages, which in some places lay in a stratum up to 24ft deep. Human remains were encountered, payment being made to the London Necropolis Company for their removal and reburial at Brookwood, whither the bones of those who had never known railways travelled by train.

In 1884, Isabella Gladstone wrote, "There is scarcely a railway line that does not run over a few graveyards."

However, the rumor of the London Underground being so curvy to avoid plague pits is unsubstantiated. Rather, they built the tunnels under existing roadway because it was cheaper. They wouldn't have to buy up all this private land, deal with the hassle of houses and whatever is up above before they start digging below. Digging tunnels under public roadways was just easier and more cost effective.

That being said, in 1980, a plague pit was found in East Smithfield. The bodies of 759 people were uncovered and DNA analysis showed they had bubonic plague, likely from the 1300s event. Instead of being piled into a pit and left there, they had been lowered into carefully dug trenches, in coffins. When digging began at a sight nearby in 2013, they knew what to possibly expect. A sample dig, and then subsequent test found not only more bodies, also carefully buried, but tested positive for the bacteria that caused Bubonic Plague as well. However, according to BBC, these are the only two 1300's Bubonic Plague-tied plague pits to have been confirmed.

In 2015, another plague-tied find was discovered near the Liverpool Station, where a plague pit of victims from the 1600s plague were found. Likewise carefully buried. To date, it's the only 1600's confirmed plague pit discovered in the whole of the UK (as of the writing of the 2015 and 2018 dated articles I read on this).

Currently, when bones are found they are carefully excavated, and then removed to another location and reburied with proper decorum.

So, were plague pits a common consideration for Underground lines? No, but certainly bodies and cemeteries were. In a city as storied as London, how could it be any different?

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On the London Necropolis Railway, the London Underground, and Plague Pits

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