Houses Built On Ancient Buriel Ground

[renegadefm]

Not even sure if I'm in the correct section for this but here goes. 

 

I live in a mid terraced house of 4 houses. 

My neighbour has recently told us that she has discovered recently that the row of houses that we live in was built on an ancient buriel ground. 

 

I can't find out anything on the deeds about it, but the houses are over 100 years old, so information like that could be patchy. 

I asked her where did she find this out, and she said it was her landlord that found it out. 

 

It made me think because we live in a village with a chapel and there is no grave yard on the site of the chapel, and our houses are about 300 yards from the chapel, so you would assume our houses are too far from the chapel for it to be connected to the supposed buriel ground. 

 

Apparently she regularly digs up broken pieces of bones in her garden when tealing things, which suggests the story stacks up. 

 

My back garden is paved over so I wouldn't know for sure. 

 

How can I find any information out, as it would have to be information that dates back to over a hundred years ago. 

[davebro3]

do you get strange voices coming out of the TV?

do you have a young daughter?

Be afraid - be VERY afraid!

[smurfchops]

Maybe the library has an old map they could show you from before your house was built.  Or the Council. 

[Old_Geezer]

Does your neighbour own a dog ?

 

Tell them, if they find a skull, not to use it as an athletic cup. It doesn't end well.

[Barmaid]

Because you are rural, you could look up the Tithe Maps (available in your local record office or from thegenealogist.co.uk for a fee) and this should tell you what the land was used for in 1836.

I doubt very much that a chapel would have had a burial ground a few hundred yards away.  The burials would generally have taken place in the parish churchyard.  The chapel is likely either a) a chapel of ease - which was a chapel which was part of the main parish, but encouraged worship to be carried out or b) non-conformist.    Your village will be a part of another parish nearby and that is likely where burials took place.

You could also try searching for your particular village on the Internet Archive.  There are loads of historical books on there.

[barry1010]

You might be able to find out looking at an old map here https://maps.nls.uk/os/25inch-england-and-wales/

[Barmaid]

And bones could easily be animal bones which would have just been chucked out.  Human burials will normally be at a greater depth.

[renegadefm]

davebro3, 

 

No but we have had images appear on our living room wall, my partner still has a photo of it on her phone otherwise I probably wouldn't have believed her. 

 

And things randomly fall over in the kitchen. 

 

I might pop to the library in town to see what I can find out. 

 

I wouldn't have thought building on an ancient buriel ground would have been allowed. 

 

But why would it have been so far from the chapel, is that normal? 

[barry1010]

Show us the image on the wall, please

[barry1010]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1200347/It-happened-I-32-skeletons-beneath-house.html

[Barmaid]

I think the strange occurrences in your house have absolutely nothing to do with what the land may or may not have been used for many years ago.

Remember that the church held significant power in England and many churches we see standing today had their origins in Saxon and Norman times.  Burials would have taken place in consecrated ground.  The demands on land in rural communities was not great and so it is unlikely that your house would have been built on consecrated ground.

[Barmaid]

Another site to have a look at is the British History Online site.

Also if you go to the website of your Local Record Office, you should be able to search their database.

[Atheist]

Going back in time thousands and hundreds of thousands of years, I expect that most of the land we see now is full of bones and fossils of humans and other animals. It's not something to worry about.

[pastafreak]

Barmaid has a wealth of knowledge regarding genealogy and historical records...she's probably the one to take advice from.

[Ringlet]

I came on here to say something but I see Atheist has already said it. 

The British Isles have been inhabited for so many centuries, it is inevitable that the habitable land would contain the remains of many previous generations of humans and animals. 

Fretting about a piece of land because it may in the past have been used as a burial site is pointless and will only cause unnecessary stress. We could fret about the entire country - it all contains the remains of our ancestors.    

[davebro3]

The OP doesn't seem to be fretting - just interested. The dead can't hurt us.

[Canary42]

Just a small point - if you're using google for searching, spell it burial or else you may miss somethng.

[jno]

tbh, 100 years old isn't really "ancient" - ancient might mean Romans and Vikings were buried there, but your chapel is probably much more recent and easier to check out. Barry and Barmaid have good advice.

[renegadefm]

barry1010, 

Thank you, and to everyone thank you. I managed to find the area of land from 1881 before the row of houses here was built, but the map just shows wasteland, not an old buriel ground.

 

Not sure what it means but the word Smithy was written across the map area of where my house is now, any ideas anyone? 

[jno]

blacksmith's forge, I expect

[renegadefm]

jno, 

It's funny you say that, as there used to be a blacksmiths forge about 50 yards from my house, which is now a fish & chip shop. But actually that isn't even on the map.