Tales from the Crypt
With Halloween upon us, we thought now would be the perfect time to look back at one of our more macabre projects. In late 2016, a council in London instructed us to undertake investigation works to 19 burial vaults in one of their former cemeteries.
Our client wanted us to access the vaults, document and photograph the contents within and record the depth at the highest point of the vaults’ contents for later inclusion on a topographical survey drawing. All of this information was required by our client prior to some planned works to convert the land into a recreational space and community centre.
After our initial investigation, we returned to the site in early 2017 when the client had requested our assistance in works to reduce the levels of the vaults in preparation for the scheduled landscaping.
Naturally, trying to work around human remains that are 150-200 years old without disturbing or desecrating is nigh on impossible. As such, we worked in partnership with a forensic archaeologist to ensure that the contents of every vault was recorded and labelled accurately. We then reinterred the skeletal remains sensitively and respectfully to another vault elsewhere in the cemetery.
Delicate matters dealt with, we were then able to move onto the works proper. Having already removed tomb coverings, we removed brick courses from the vault walls until they were at the level requested by the client. We then lined the spaces with a membrane and filled them with sharp sand. Shuttering containing reinforcement was then set on top of the vaults and filled with concrete. Once set, the resulting concrete slab sealed the tombs beneath.
All salvaged materials such as stone slabs and bricks were sorted and stored on site for future use in in the landscaping and building project, which was completed in 2019
