EDO5291 - Cranborne; discovery of human bones at Cranborne Lodge

A large quantity of human bones was found when digging the foundations of for the garden wall at Cranborne Lodge. This was thought to be a plague pit. The spot was in a field called 'New Litten' ie. 'New Burial Ground' in theearly 17th century survey of the manor by John Norden [1]. Cranborne was hit by plague in 1604 when 70 lives were lost [2]. Wake Smart did not record when this discovery was made, although it must have been before 1841, when the 1st edition of his book was published. The exact position of the wall foundations in which the burials were discovered has not been ascertained as yet. This event has been mapped at an arbitary point in the centre of Cranborne odge garden.