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Countryside magazine featuring the people and wildlife that shape the landscape of Britain

Countryside magazine featuring the people and wildlife that shape the landscape of the British Isles

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Open Country: Bath Workhouse Burial Ground

28/04/2022

Bath Workhouse Burial Ground

BBC Radio 4 - Open Country, Bath Workhouse Burial Ground

We visit a field in Bath, once used as the burial ground for a 19th-century workhouse.

Helen Mark visits a field on the edge of Bath, used as the burial ground for a 19th-century workhouse. She hears how people are now commemorating those who were buried anonymously.

Helen Mark visits a field on the edge of Bath, once used as the burial ground for Bath Union Workhouse. Over 3100 bodies of people who died in poverty between 1858 and 1899 were buried here in unmarked graves. For over a hundred years, the site has been unrecognised and those buried here forgotten. 

Now a group of local residents, artists, and descendants of those buried here are remembering what happened. Helen hears how the group is planting trees and wildflowers, putting up a plaque, and commemorating the lives of people who were buried anonymously. 

Produced by Beatrice Fenton

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