The busy roundabout over a Victorian grave site where skeletons have been unearthed

Its history has been brought to light after 11 skeletons were discovered

For years, thousands of people have used a busy roundabout in a Cambridgeshire city without being aware of what lies hidden below. Now, its history has been brought to light as more than 10 skeletons have been discovered during digging as part of the City Link project in Peterborough.

Police were called following an initial discovery of one human skeleton within the Queensgate roundabout. The force were asked to establish whether it was a crime scene, which has now been confirmed not to be.

A total of 11 skeletons have been discovered so far within the roundabout. These remains are part of a cemetery which existed on the site in the Victorian era.

Records indicate that remains from this cemetery were cleared when subways were built at the roundabout during the 1970s. According to Discover Peterborough, the city’s main cemetery near the cathedral had become full by the early 1800s.

The churchwardens of St John the Baptist, the parish church that still stands in Cathedral Square, bought three acres of farmland at the western end of Cowgate for a new burial ground.

The first person buried there was Elizabeth Mone, in March 1805, according to Discover Peterborough. For the next 50 years, the walled and gated ground was where the city buried its dead.

In 1828, Peterborough’s first case of body snatching was recorded but it was not the last. The years from 1827 to 1830 were reportedly the peak of the trade in stolen corpses. A body snatcher is a person who stole the bodies of dead people and sold them.

By 1858, the site was declared full. A new cemetery opened between Eastfield Road and Broadway, and Broadway Cemetery has served the city ever since.

The skeletons, which were confirmed by Peterborough City Council to have been discovered within the Queensgate roundabout, will be reburied in Church of England burial grounds elsewhere in the city.

The City Link scheme aims to deliver a more direct route for pedestrians and cyclists from Peterborough Railway Station to the city centre (via Cowgate). The scheme will remove two of the three subways that run underneath the Queensgate roundabout, creating direct access to the city centre from Cowgate from the railway station.