Transport for London is about to transform the area into a plush new South Bank hot spot. London has some strange old traditions and bizarre myths hidden amongst its history but this has to be right up there at the top of the list. It's a story about a little-known graveyard where the bodies of prostitutes, outcasts and London's most abject poor were once dumped that's literally coming back to life. You'd expect it to be overgrown and ignored, a shameful place, but it's become place of hope where volunteers are creating a magical garden and people gather to pray for the outcasts who once died there and take hope in regeneration.
And yet in a bizarre turn of events Transport for London has now chosen this hidden corner of the city to build brand new houses and shops and to revive the medieval streets of what was once London's land of vice. Since Medieval times, the bodies of some of London's poorest and most destitute residents are thought to have been buried at Cross Bones.
It holds the bodies of an estimated 15, people - possibly more than half of them children. Many of them were probably prostitutes, plying their trade in the bordellos or 'stews' along the South Bank slums. Shamed sex workers weren't allowed to be buried on consecrated church ground, so early writers like John Stow in said a piece of ground called the 'Single Women's churchyard' was set aside for them, far away from the local parish church Southwark Cathedral.
Now Tfl says it's going to protect the Cross Bones cemetery and the memorial garden as part of its new housing development in the area. TfL says the plans, designed by local architect Allies and Morrison, will transform the site "from an under-utilised space to a local cultural and social hub where people will want to live, work and visit". The incredible prehistoric animals that once roamed what we now call London.
TfL says the site will contribute to the local economy through the new commercial facilities, as well as by creating more than 1, jobs once complete, which is especially vital given its location within an opportunity area and Central Activity Zone near London Bridge station. Small and medium businesses will also be encouraged to take advantage of the new hub through the provision of 10 per cent affordable workspace.
