SIR - Your correspondent LK Edwards is absolutely right about the cathedral's ancient charnel house, situated close to the north porch. When the Victorians re-landscaped the burial ground, various human remains disturbed there were re-interred in the charnel house, and it is just possible that some of those bones belonged to those slain during the 1651 Battle of Worcester.
However, due to the massive volume of bones stored there (dating back to the 12th century), it is impossible to confirm this from a modern scientific perspective.
Contemporary parish records confirm that the dead from fighting at Fort Royal, Sidbury, and the city itself were gathered together and buried in the cathedral grounds. It is extremely unlikely, therefore, that the Victorian disturbance did any more than scratch the surface.
We hope that whatever is left of the original burial site will exist to be discovered using geo-physics, enabling us to properly mark the site and commemorate the dead.
DILIP SARKAR, Worcester.
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