Building stored bodies that otherwise would have been kept at home by destitute families until they could afford a funeralThe original grim purpose of a pretty little octagonal building in a London cemetery has been identified after years of assuming it was just a lockup for gravediggers’ tools. It is the only survivor of a campaign to stay the destitute from keeping the bodies of their dead at home until they could raise the money for a funeral,and is being given Grade II-listed status in honour of its historic importance.
At a time when epidemics of cholera were ravaging destitute areas of London and other cities, public health campaigners identified the dangers of bodies kept at home for days or even weeks, or often in the single room where entire families ate and slept. The “reception house” in the Margravine cemetery in Hammersmith,west London, is the sole survivor of many built to store dead bodies until burial. Related: Burial mounds get a comeback in 21st-century Britain Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com