Rising sea levels and coastal erosion are revealing old wooden coffins and skeletal remains on Deadman’s Island in Kent, U.K. It’s not a pretty site. A river island seems to be a particularly bad place to bury people just for this sort of reason. It did allow the bodies to be isolated but, as we see, they are being gradually and gruesomely freed from their muddy graves.
According to this BBC article, the Isle of Sheppey, which is now a protected wetland area for wildlife, was where the dead from prison boats were buried in the 19th century. The remains are visible at low tide but it’s likely they will continue to be naturally exhumed, making this a very creepy place indeed. The island, opposite Queensborough, is off limits to landing but trips via kayak are allowed.
The island has supernatural tales associated with it, as would be expected for such a history. In 1950, two journalists made their way to the island and found bones strewn about but no skulls. Neil Arnold’s Haunted Isle of Sheppey says that the local legend was that demon hounds had ravaged the remains and eaten the brains in the skulls.
Wicked!
I used to live in Medway which is not far from Sheppey. Prison hulks were moored along the River Medway at Chatham and one site that was well known as a burial site for prisoners was St Mary’s Island. The bodies were moved when the docks were expanded. This site has more information. http://waterloo200.org/themes/society/remembering-the-french-dead/