Newcastle’s GRUESOME Past Under A Field By The Tyne!

Did you know that a seemingly ordinary field in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK holds a dark secret? This history documentary dives into the interesting facts surrounding a mass grave hidden beneath the surface. We’ll explore the history and significance of this site, explained with visuals and historical context.

There’s a field in Newcastle right on the banks of the river Tine here about a half a mile further down there. It’s about an acre and a half. And underneath that field are buried about 40,000 dead bodies. Seriously, at least 40,000 dead bodies. And if you were none the wiser, you could walk right past it. You could walk right over the top of it and you wouldn’t even know what lies beneath. Well, in this video, I’m going to tell you a little bit about the story of this unmarked mass grave. It’s coming up. Welcome back. It’s Eddie here from Tinside Life. And where I’m stood right now is the mouth of the Oozeburn as it flows into the mighty River Tine. And the Oburn Valley. It’s just behind my right shoulder there. Oo, if you’re not familiar with this part of Newcastle, it’s about a half a mile east of the city center. is one of me favorite parts of Newcastle for a few reasons. So, before we start looking at this um ghostly mass grave, let’s learn a little bit more about Oozeburn and why it’s important to this story. Oo was once one of Newcastle’s industrial engine rooms, a smoky valley of kils, glass works, tanneries, and mills. The little river driving big industry and the Victoria tunnel feeding the tine with coal. Ships offloaded their weight here building the ground beneath its feet. Ballast hill alongside stories of workers, sailors and desenders. Today the clatter is softer. Art studios, indie breweries, live music, street art, cyclists and dog walkers share lanes where courts once rattled. The Tine Bar, Brinkburn Brewery, The Ship, Clooney, Free Trade in, and amongst other cool establishments are popular to visit. Who’s burn is still graft and creativity just with better coffee and fewer chimneys. Tanneries, well, I had no idea there were sunbed shops back in the 19th century. But talking of coffee, one of me favorite places to come in for a coffee is right behind us here. It’s in Northern Rye. Now, not being sponsored by Northern Riot, but any idea. I’ve been filming, but I do love to come here, sit on the bench outside, and have a coffee and a baguette. But they do all sorts of homemade stuff, homemade breads and pastries and cakes and jams. And if you haven’t been here before, check it out. It really is a lovely place. And if you did, make sure you mention me channel. The area that I’m stood on now, which is quite hilly, just east of the Oozeburn River, is called Ballast Hills, right next to Brinkburn Brewery. And the ballast hills is integral to the story that I’m telling in this video about the dead bodies which uh in a field just behind us there because there are ballast hills all along the south and north banks of the river Tine. And it gets its name from ships which used to come into the time because for hundreds of years the coal pits of this regional area supplied London predominantly but also other European cities with their coal. And the coal from the pitch used to come down to the river Tine and put onto ships. But when the ships come down the tine initially, they were largely empty of their cargo, but they had to have ballast in them to keep them steady and ballasters like clay and rubble and other forms of muk. And that ballast had to be offloaded from the ship before the ships before the coal could be put on. And over decades and then centuries that ballast which was taken off the ships and dumped on the side of the river tine banks got bigger and bigger and more layered and more spread out and more spread out till it becomes indistinguishable and over time these hills along uh the river tine part look part of the natural landscape but they’re artificial and this is ballast hills inburn and if you’re wondering how they got the ballast off the ships well for a long time it used to be women used to carry the ballast in baskets on top of their heads and drop them off on the riverbank. Now women have been saying forever that they use their heads far more than men. Well, who am I to argue? And this is it. This is the ballast hills burial ground which forms part of the valley conservation area. And to look at it, you wouldn’t blink. You wouldn’t think twice about it. You wouldn’t think there are tens of thousands of dead bodies underneath this fielded area just here. It’s about an acre and a half, roughly half the size of a football pitch. Records suggest that the actual burial site is probably about double this area, expanding into the areas where we now have buildings as well. Since at least the early 1600s, bodies have been discarded and buried on this unconsecrated land. During the 1600s alone, thousands were buried here due to the four outbreaks of the plague, particularly the big one of 1665. The site became known locally as plaguy fields. The area was also used to bury social outcasts and dissenters of the Anglican Church, Protestants, Quakers, Baptists, and Scottish Methodist immigrant workers. It was also used for those who died of cholera. The first gravestone in the area was dated to 1708. And during the 1800s, body snatching became a problem. Resurrectionists, as they were called, would open coffins and piler valuables. They would also steal bodies and sell them to nearby medical schools for research. There’s a notable case of a 7-year-old girl from January 1829 after her remains were found a day after a burial. Between 1820 and 1825, more bodies were interned here than all of the Newcastle churchyards combined. According to a Newcastle Council report in 1883, roughly 16,000 people were buried at Ballast Hill from 1794 to 1825 alone. By the mid 1850s, all the churchyards in town were closed due to the unsanitary conditions caused by Colorado deaths. Ballast Hill formally closed in 1853. In 1930, the site was turned into a playground for Ozeburn School, which opened in 1893 after removing the hundreds of headstones. The school was closed in the 1960s, and after a few decades of abandonment, it is now the Newcastle Center for Business Enterprise. The area of Ballast Hills beside the old school remains an area of tranquility and its dark past hidden from sight. Many of the headstones were used as flagging for the surrounding pathway whilst others were relocated and due to the erosion and where only a few inscriptions are decipherable. It’s hard to imagine, isn’t it? Just where I’m stood right here. Layer upon layer underneath there are thousands and tens of thousands of bodies in an unmarked grave. unmarked burial site hidden in plain sight right on the banks of the river time in the virtually the center of Newcastle. I think it brings into focus as well the what life must have been like in the 17th, 18th and 19th century. You know, if you’re poor, if you’re a desenter, if you’re an immigrant worker and you died particularly of the plague or cholera, you were just chucked into a pit and covered with rubble and forgotten about. All those people with their own stories about how they got here and what they did. And now beautiful tranquil area. You wouldn’t even think it’s an artificial hill with a beautiful grade two Victorian building just there steeped in history. If you’re from this neck of the woods, you might have relatives. You know, your your gran or your great grand or your great granddad probably went to school aturn school just here. Probably played on these fields where I’m stood now. I would love to hear in the comments down below if you’ve got any stories like that. Please do share them. But also as well, if you haven’t been to the Newsburn Valley generally, check it out, man. It’s a lovely part of Newcastle. It’s really cool. Anyway, I hope you found this video informative and interesting. And if you did, don’t forget to give us a thumbs up and smash that subscribe button if you want to see more videos like this. And if you want to learn more about the Osburn Valley and its history, check these two videos out. Thanks for watching.