Euston’s lost burial ground

historyWellcome Collection1788–2017 · Euston, London, UK

Euston’s lost burial ground

the gist

St James's Gardens, a former burial ground beside Euston Station, held as many as 60,000 bodies when it was dug up for HS2 railway work in 2017, the largest exhumation in British history. The graveyard opened in 1788 when central London churchyards were full, and it was turned into a public garden in 1887 with headstones pushed to the edges, which is why many graves were lost. Its burials include explorer Matthew Flinders, whose coffin was found in 2019, the radical Thomas Spence and the boxer Bill Richmond.

so what

London's rapid expansion in the 18th and 19th centuries pushed burial grounds out of the centre, and many later became parks or building sites. The dig revealed how little record survived of who was buried where, so the remains now await reburial decisions.

fun fact

Matthew Flinders proposed the name Australia for the continent he helped survey.

Wellcome Collection · CC BY 4.0

source: Wellcome Collection ↗

historyWikipediaclassic1336–1565 · Karnataka, India

Hampi was once one of the world's largest cities, until its Vijayanagara capital was destroyed in 1565

the gist

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.

how it works

The city was built around a fortified core with temples, markets and water structures along the river, supplied by an extensive network of roads and waterworks. When the empire fell, the city was not rebuilt, so its stone monuments were left standing.

so what

Hampi shows how quickly a great city can vanish after a military defeat, and how a ruined capital can remain sacred. Its ruins give historians a view of medieval South Asia that few other sites can match.

fun fact

The name Hampi comes from Pampa, an old name for the Tungabhadra River.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · text CC BY-SA 4.0

Image: Wikimedia Commons

source: Wikipedia ↗

2 min

politicsshortCNA2:01

False allegations about Singapore’s hand in Indonesia’s markets and a made-up meeting

from CNA

CNA Verify has found close to 400 posts pushing falsehoods tying Singapore to Indonesia’s stock market rout and to a secret meeting that never took place. Together, they drew nearly 12 million views, and some were circulated by accounts that appeared to be working in concert, across multiple social media platforms.

Here’s how the disinformation campaign targeting Singapore was uncovered.

on YouTube: CNA ↗