OUTCAST GROUND
Unearthing London's Forgotten Graveyard
Watch: What is Crossbones?
Hidden in Southwark, Cross Bones Graveyard holds the stories of those denied a voice in life and in death. This short film introduces the history of the “outcast dead” and the ways the site has been reclaimed as a place of remembrance and resistance
About the Project
Crossbones Graveyard is unlike any other burial place in London. For centuries, it was the resting ground of the “outcast dead”: paupers, sex workers, and others denied a churchyard grave. Today, it stands as both a Garden of Remembrance and a site of quiet protest, where ribbons, poems, and candles reclaim dignity for those once forgotten.
Outcast Ground is a digital public history project that brings this layered story to life. Through an interactive map and short historical “deep dives,” it explores how Crossbones has been remembered, contested, and reimagined across time.
Created as part of a Master’s in Public History, this project asks: how do we honour the marginalised, and what does it mean to remember on contested ground?
Crossbones in Context
Trace the past and walk the ground, through maps and moments in time.
There is no single way to tell the story of Crossbones. This section invites you to explore through time and space, following the threads of Southwark’s past and walking virtually through the graveyard itself.
Why Crossbones Matters
Hidden away in Southwark, Cross Bones Graveyard tells a story that London’s official histories often left out. From the medieval period onwards, it became the resting place for those excluded from consecrated ground, particularly the women who worked in the licensed brothels of the Bishop of Winchester, known disparagingly as the “Winchester Geese.”
When the graveyard closed in 1853, it slipped into neglect, its outcast dead forgotten beneath the city’s growth. But in the 1990s, archaeological excavations unearthed hundreds of skeletons — many of them women and children — forcing the site back into public consciousness.
Today, Crossbones matters because it stands at the intersection of history, memory, and protest. It is a place that refuses silence: a reminder of how society treats its most vulnerable, and a testament to those who continue to honour lives once dismissed as unworthy.
