Crossbones Graveyard, 25.3.11

A few examples from this shoot. The Crossbones Graveyard is in Bankside, near Borough Market and London Bridge. It was originally an unconsecrated burial ground for ‘single women’, a euphemism for prostitutes, who worked in the “Liberty of the Clink“. This was an area controlled by the Bishop of Winchester, and the graveyard was used until the mid-nineteenth century when it was closed down after being declared full. Excavated during the Jubilee Line extension works in the 1990’s, it was estimated that up to  15,000 people were buried there. The women who worked in this area were referred to as ‘Winchester Geese‘.