Crypts

[MWB]

When family crypts were opened to lay a body in - what if another member of the family had only died a few months or so before & layed in there? Would there be a smell from that body?

[Erdinger]

I worked throughout the summer of 2001 with The University of Birmingham Archaeological Unit assisting with the excavation of the cemetery of St Martins church in the Bullring as part of a development programme. Many of the burials/internments were in elaborate, brick built vaults, some of the 'chambers' contained several members of the same family. Dating evidence on coffin plaques confirmed that on occasions only months lapsed between one internment and the other. One can only assume therefore that without doubt there must have been a degree of odours emmiting from decomposing bodies. Perhaps the cemetery employees were 'accustomed' to this fact and carried on with their tasks regardless, possibly in the same frame of mind as those who work on a daily basis in our modern day town and city sewers etc.