There’s a reptilian part of our brains that kicks in during fight or flight situations. Londoners have a similar area for commuting on our wonderful tube: a section activated the moment you step outside your door. It gets you quickly and efficiently across town using Rain Man levels of calculation. Distance, time, exits, traffic are all carefully computed to make sure the journey is as short and stress-free as possible.
Sadly the commuter brain tends to shut down other parts; let’s face it, we notice a lot less when we’re on the move. Londoners filter out the summer time smells, sexualised adverts for duvets, families of tube mice and countless lost (in your way) tourists. Most of it isn’t worth looking up for but the capital also has a few secrets that deserve your attention.
If you travel on the Piccadilly line, take a moment to put down the book or look away from your phone between South Ken and Green Park. Just as you are wondering why you’re following this advice, you’ll notice the line begins to curve around a corner.
The reason it bends is morbidly fascinating. When the tunnelling was being carried out for the Piccadilly Line there was a small, sinister hiccup. At the junction where Brompton Road meets Knightsbridge, workers made a rather unpleasant discovery.
Beneath the busy streets was a massive plague burial pit. When the Black Death hit in 1665 so many died quickly that burials involved fitting as many bodies as possible in one pit.
The gravediggers at Knightsbridge did such a good job that neither man nor machine could tunnel through the mass of bones buried there. There were simply too many. In the end, it took less time and effort to go around the mass grave than through it, producing a macabre curve in the track.
So next time you’re passing Knightsbridge on the Piccadilly line, give a thought to the thousands of Londoners you’re passing by – not the ones on the Tube platform but the long-forgotten pit-dwellers on the other side.
The post London Stories: There Are Actual Graves In The Tube appeared first on Felix Magazine.
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