Top News
Home |
WikiNews |
Finance |
Archive
Blogs:
New York
InstaPundit
PickTheBrain
Movies
WebTV
Access Hollywood
DailyKos
Interesting Thing of the Day
LifeHack
Dumb Little Man
TreeHugger
Random Good Stuff
Simply Recipes
Skeletons found under home in Hertfordshire
From Wikinews, the free news source you can write!
Jump to: navigation, search
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
United Kingdom
Other stories from The United Kingdom
...More articles here
Location of the United Kingdom
To write, , start or view other articles on the United Kingdom, see the United Kingdom Portal
Catherine McGuigan, a resident in South Mimms, Hertfordshire, UK, found skeletons from over a century ago buried under her dining room.
She had hired builders for an extension for her cottage, where she has lived for eleven years, and at the beginning of April they found human bones in the ground.
Her cottage was built over a burial ground; from 1697 to 1820 the land was owned by the Religious Society of Friends. In the 1600s, members of the society, better known as Quakers, were persecuted for their beliefs and so were not allowed to be buried in consecrated church grounds. Instead burials, which were also sometimes for others not recognised as parishioners - such as homeless people, often took place in the countryside.
The Daily Mail states in its April article that the Religious Society of Friends have advised McGuigan that she "must cremate" the bodies, however Quakers have written an open letter to the Daily Mail, informing that for Quakers, there is "no specific advice on the disposal of bodies", and that they had never expressed an opinion on how the discovered skeletons should be buried.
The cremation was rumoured to cost up to £32,000 - an £800 quote for cremation of a single body multiplied by 40, however as yet only ten bodies have been discovered.
The builders originally thought the bones were pieces of pipe, and McGuigan has now ordered coffins and is looking to holding a mass cremation or a burial in a nearby field.
Sources
 This page is archived and is no longer publicly able. Add the tag {{protected}} to the talk page of the article to note any corrections or other issues with the article. It will be listed automatically on the Admin action alert page. Also note that listed sources may no longer be available online.
|
