Osteoarchaeologist Paola Ponce searching through the burial plots in the Quaker Burial Ground in the Royal Pavilion Estate. Photo: Carlotta Luke – Royal Pavilion Estate.
Eye - 20 April 2018
Burials in Brighton
Eighteen undisturbed graves thought to be from an old Quaker graveyard have been found under the grounds of the Corn Exchange on the Royal Pavilion Estate in Brighton, local Friend Tony Tree has told Eye.
Archaeologists also discovered three broken up skeletons. It is believed Regency builders moved them. All the remains are being cleaned and looked at by the osteological team of the Archaeology South-East office.
The remains are thought to be from ‘Quakers Croft’ – a Quaker burial ground that existed before the Royal Pavilion Estate was built, and before the Quaker Meeting house moved to its current location in Meeting House Lane in 1805.
Garrett Sheehan, from Archaeology South-East, said: ‘We believe the skeletons we have found are between 200 to 300 years old. The Bishops Map from 1803 showed this area marked as Quakers Croft, and a Quaker burial ground was known to exist here – it was the extent of this that wasn’t clear until now.
‘The construction of the Riding School here at Brighton Dome was completed in 1813, so the burials pre-date that. In this area, outside the old riding school, we have up to eighteen burials that remained undisturbed. Interestingly, there are also up to three disarticulated skeletons buried here that were presumably moved during the original riding school construction.’
The first Quaker Meetings for Worship were held in private houses in Rottingdean, a small village near Brighton, around 1656. The first burial ground was there and the first burial recorded in 1659. It is still there and is a protected site.
In 1700 a converted malthouse was leased for 1,000 years for £105 to satisfy the need for a permanent building for Meeting for Worship. This was in North Street. The premises and attached land comprised the tenement, malthouse, outhouses and a croft of pastureland. The meadowland behind the Meeting house was let and known thereafter as Quakers’ Croft, and a smaller piece at the Spring Walks (Church Street) was used as a burying ground.
Friends moved to the present Meeting house in Ship Street in 1804 and until 1854 this was used as a burial ground. Burials were then moved to Black Rock.
The Black Rock Meeting House and Burial Ground were subject to compulsory purchase and demolished by the council to build the access road to the Brighton Marina in 1972. Friends were removed to a new Quaker burial site at Lawns Memorial Park in Woodingdean, Brighton.
Terry Bryne, warden at Brighton Meeting, said: ‘The discovery of this burial site has opened up a fascinating new chapter in the history of Brighton Friends. It will help us understand how local Friends lived more than 200 years ago and will be added to the story and interpretation of the early Brighton Quakers. We are now searching within our archives of burial records to identify the remains. We will be working with the archaeology team to help complete the story of early Friends in Brighton.’
The remains that have been found will be reburied alongside other Friends at Lawns Memorial Park in the near future.
