Birmingham Children’s Hospital, Whittall Street/St Mary’s Row, Birmingham
12 - A planning application was determined without specialist archaeological curatorial advice
The absence of specialist archaeological curatorial advice (adviser not in post; advice not given because of capacity or other issues) led to the determination of an application without appropriate consideration of the archaeological implications.
Undesignated heritage assets with archaeological and historic interest
Construction of four-storey building and associated works.
None known prior to the desk-based assessment.
A desk-based assessment was undertaken prior to the determination of the planning application (A B Heritage 2016). The study noted that no prehistoric or Roman remains were present in the immediate vicinity. Historic map evidence suggested that, in the medieval period, the site had been part of the land used as a rabbit warren by the late 13th-century Priory of St Thomas, until its dissolution in the mid-16th century. A map of 1778 depicted a chapel of St Mary set within a rectangular plot of land; the proposed hospital development lay within the western part of this land and overlay part of the site of the church building.
Although the desk-based assessment identified that the site of St Mary’s church lay within the development area the probable full extent of the graveyard was not identified. The archaeological potential of the area was assessed as low because of previous development with deep foundations, and the overall impact of the development on any surviving below ground archaeology as negligible. No further archaeological investigation was recommended.
Planning permission was given for the development, and no provision was made for further archaeological work.
After the commencement of the development on site human remains were discovered by contractor during deep excavation in advance of piling, and reported to the local authority. Worcestershire Archaeology were engaged to investigate the site and to record the human remains. The developer of the site was helpful and facilitated the archaeological recording needed.
This summary of the archaeological results of the project is based on Bradley, Western and Hurst 2018:
Documentary evidence indicates that the development site was a part of land given in the late 18th century for the construction of a new chapel of ease (St Mary’s) to the parish church of St Martins, with a surrounding graveyard. The church remained in use until 1925, although the graveyard had been closed in the 1860s. It was demolished in 1927, and the graveyard cleared in several phases, before a multi-storey carpark was constructed there in the mid 20th century and, following demolition of the latter, the site became a part of the Birmingham hospital.
A considerable amount of disturbance had taken place to the graveyard during previous development. Before the archaeological recording commenced in 2016 further archaeological remains were probably destroyed during the demolition of the multi-storey car park, site clearance and earlier phases of the new development; at least part of the octagonal brick footings for St Mary’s Church are reported to have been present when development commenced.
Evidence consistent with the use of the site as a graveyard between 1774 and the 1860s was recovered. A minimum of five graves and one possible charnel pit were recorded, most of the human bones being disarticulated and disturbed. Broken gravestones, some with inscriptions, and coffin fittings were also recorded.
Both male and female adults, as well as children were present, and analysis of the human bone has provided evidence of insights into living conditions, medical practice and levels of disease and injury, including rickets, infection and trauma. Also present was a craniotomy carried out as part of a post- mortem examination procedure, the skeletal evidence for which in Birmingham is relatively rare, despite the known presence of teaching hospitals there from 1779.
The graveyard was in use during a notable period in the history of the city, when it was developing into a major manufacturing centre and expanding rapidly. Birmingham was an important centre not only in terms of its expansive economic development but also its medical development and the provision of health care at this time.
By expanding the current skeletal dataset and allowing comparisons to be made between contemporary populations in Birmingham and the wider region, osteoarchaeological analysis of human remains, such as those from St Mary’s, continues to provide a unique and significant contribution towards improving understanding of life, disease, medical intervention, death and burial amongst the populace in a key period of Birmingham’s past.
- AB Heritage 2016, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, corner of Whittall Street and St Mary’s Row, Birmingham: Historic Environment desk-based assessment. Unpublished report, AB Heritage 10753.
- Bradley, Western and Hurst 2018, An archaeological watching brief at the site of St Mary’s Church, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, Birmingham, Richard A Bradley, Gaynor Western and Derek Hurst, Transactions of the Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological Society 120, 93-105.
