Spa Fields has a history of extremes from being a pleasure garden in the 17th Century to an overcrowded graveyard during the 19th Century, and then a play ground for children from 1886. During these times, significant events took place on the site, such as Spa Field Riots of 1816.
By the late 18th century the London churchyards were becoming overcrowded. New cemeteries were established as private speculations generally offering slightly lower charges for burials than the churchyards.
The bodies were exhumed at night and burned in the Bone House to make space for more burials.
Spa fields was one of the most appalling burial grounds in London. According to British History Online “in fifty years it was carefully computed that 80,000 interments had taken place in this pestilential graveyard”. This practice was sustained by the constant exhumation, chopping-up, and cremation of older corpses. This is believed to have contributed to cholera infections in the area. Due to the infectious smells that emanated from the place, all the corpses were finally removed and relocated to other cemeteries at the then outskirts of the city.
In May 1802 the gravedigger, Joseph Naples, was indicted at Clerkenwell sessions for body snatching. Unfortunately for him, he met up with a Bow Street runner one evening, who became suspicious of the large load on Naples's shoulders. When challenged, Naples ran off. The load turned out to be the recently buried bodies of a woman and child.
It emerged that Naples had been involved in supplying the local hospitals with up to three bodies a day during the winter season, using a basket the hospitals had helpfully provided. He would also supply just the head of anyone who had died of something particularly interesting.
Around 1843 the public were so horrified over burial site management that a Public Inquiry was instigated. Acts of Parliament were written which prevented anything like this from happening again.
Its quite pleasant these days.