THE CHARNEL HOUSE

If you seek beneath your feet,
You may not like what it is you meet.

Dorset is rich in elevated towns that have histories dating back centuries. It is not surprising that a new building can reveal a part of that history, though the revelation may not always be welcome. In one such town a modern public library is now situated in one of the oldest thoroughfares alongside properties dating back to the sixteen hundreds. The library was built during the seventies on what was believed to have been an old brewer’s yard. During excavations it became obvious that beneath the old yard itself lay the remnants of an even older building. When at first some ecclesiastical artefacts were unearthed it gave rise to the belief that the building was associated with the nearby abbey. Further research locally and at the British library, identified the site as that of a seventeenth century charnel house, a building used for the storage of bodies and bones. The latter were quite often deposited in the charnel house if they were found when digging new graves, or for the more recently deceased. Bodies were kept temporarily until a burial, or other form of disposal could be organised.

Building work on the new library had to be halted whilst archaeologists examined the site and recorded their findings. Several weeks of work produced over 200 skulls and several hundredweights of bones. All of which had to be catalogued and then found suitable ‘homes’. The skulls and any bones of interest, predominantly through disease or injury, were acquired by teaching hospitals or other educational or historical establishments.

As the examination of the site progressed a much wider variety of artefacts were discovered and surprisingly more fragments of clothing than would be expected. It would appear that some of the bodies were fully clothed when they began their disintegration. This would have been unusual in a charnel house and raised doubts initially as to the identity of the building. Clothing was invariably removed by the relatives for their own use, or by the church for redistribution to the poor. A shroud then covered the naked deceased as a mark of respect and then only stored in the house temporarily. That any bodies should be found fully clothed raised all sorts of bizarre speculation. 

Painstaking dissection of the homogenous mass of skeletal remains produced further interesting observations. The clothing fragments were all located in the upper layer, meaning that the bodies that were clothed were last to arrive. An exception to this was found in the centre of the upper layer. Surrounded by those thought to be clothed were the remains of two skeletons who’s bones showed signs of having been burnt.

Initially researchers explained the finds as resulting from the plague, and a straightforward house fire. However Professor Jonathan Tate of Bristol University disagrees. He claims that victims of the plague were never taken to a charnel house or stored for any period anywhere. Bodies were taken clothed or not, directly to where they were buried and those without status, most likely in a communal pit. Professor Tate states confidently that the only corpses that retained their everyday clothing after death, due to fear and superstition, were those found guilty of witchcraft. The number of clothed bodies estimated to have been stored in the charnel house was eleven. Forensic examination of the two skeletons showing signs of burning later indicated that they were bound with twine during their ordeal and that it was likely that they had been burnt to death. Professor Tate points out that if that was the case the number is significant. The number of witches required to form a coven is thirteen.

It is now believed that the religious artefacts found around the site were an attempt to cleanse it or at least to confine to within the charnel house whatever dark forces had been raised.

There exists no official recording of witch burning in that part of Dorset. It was not unheard of however for people to take the law into their own hands. This might explain the two burnt skeletons, but not how the rest of the coven found itself in the charnel house. It may be that some ritual took place in the charnel house involving all thirteen, eleven of which were alive at the time. It is certain, however, that whatever events took place no one ever used the charnel house again.

Any human remains were removed before the building development was allowed to continue. A religious ceremony took place for those who had perished and as a way of cleansing the area for future habitation. There is no guarantee that such ceremonies have any effect particularly on those who followed a very different religion. Dark forces encouraged to take up residence several hundreds of years ago may still be in occupation. There is no evidence of this but it might go some way to explain the abnormal behaviour of the librarians.