Badgers Blamed for Nuns’ Exhumation
KENT BARKER
The exhumation of the bodies of 46 nuns from a graveyard at Holmhurst St Mary near the Ridge at Baldslow has been dubbed “utterly disrespectful” and “absolutely disgusting” by local residents.
Nun’s Graves now exhumed
The nuns had been teachers at the convent school of St Mary Holmhurst which closed in 1981. The area surrounding their graveyard is now a major housing development of 208 units from Southern Housing. However, at the end of last year it was alleged that body parts including a human skull had been unearthed. The owner of the graveyard, The Mother St Agnes Trust, applied to the Consistory Court of the Diocese of Chichester, which last September authorised the exhumations, cremation of the remains and the burial of the ashes. In December, an Environmental Health officer from Hastings Borough Council visited the site to supervise the project.
Presence of Badgers
A council spokesperson told HIP: “This decision was made by the landowners, The Mother Agnes Trust, following specialist advice concerning the presence of badgers. The badgers, which are protected by law, had extended their setts into the graveyard and disturbed some of the burial sites.”
HIP contacted the Badgers Trust who told us: “We are both surprised and saddened that the planning permission for the nearby housing development did not include provisions for badgers, which could have prevented this predictable outcome.” Trust Chief Executive, Nigel Palmer, said that it was likely that the nearby construction had disrupted their habitat, forcing them to seek new foraging grounds or to build setts in the graveyard.
Badger Escape Hatch over Grave
Bob Hart, local historian and co-ordinator of the ‘Bohemia Brisco’ website recalls seeing an undertaker’s van visiting the site of the woodland containing the nuns’ graveyard before Christmas and surmised that exhumations were taking place. “I feel strongly that this site was an important little piece of history and undertakings that the graveyard would not be disturbed had been ignored,” he said.
To uncover the full story Mr Hart instigated a freedom of information request (FOI). The documents he received, though heavily redacted, threw up interesting information – some at variance with official statements. The unnamed council Environmental Health officer commented: ‘Due to restrictions on disturbing badgers there is now a rush to exhume these 46 remains.’ On 23 October 2024 he visited the site: ‘witnessed a test exhumation … container for kit and H&S welfare unit for staff not as agreed. Voiced my concerns. One set of remains removed for cremation.’ On his next visit, on November 4, he noted ‘Visited to see first full day going ahead, site still not ready, have provided advice and left them to it. They are hopeful of completing one exhumation today which would leave 44 more to do.”
Dignity and Respect
There is no record in the FOI of any further visits, and the phrase ‘left them to it’ does not accord with HBC’s statement that: ‘an environmental health officer must be present at the exhumation and supervise the event to ensure that dignity and respect for the deceased person is maintained and that public health is protected.’
Furthermore on 2 December HBC’s Environment Health team emailed Rowland Brothers Funeral Directors asking if the exhumations had been completed or ‘are you still working on it?’ Again providing evidence that the operation was not being directly supervised.
Rowland Brothers, who conducted the exhumations, replied just half an hour later: ‘we have indeed finish (sic) … the last graves were exhumed on Monday 18th and the site handed back to the construction company … it was a mixed bag in the end …some complete graves with enough remains to justify a full-sized coffin, some with only a small amount of remains, six graves where the remains were completely jumbled up and [redacted name] was unable to define which remains were from which grave, and a number where no remains were found at all.’
When HIP put this information from the FOI to Hastings Borough Council, they modified their original statement, saying: ‘The Environmental Health team checked the risk assessments and the method statement before any work took place. The initial set up was inspected to ensure the remains were dealt with safely and with dignity, and then spot checks were carried out during the process.’
Storm of Protest
A brief TV report about the exhumations on Meridian earlier this month led to a storm of protest on social media. Marion Little said: ’.“I hope this isn’t true! The graves were in a small piece of land and could easily have been spared”. Andrew Gardner said: ‘All the crosses with all of the nuns’ names have been removed. As has all the brickwork that formed the nuns’ garden.’ While Alison Pelling wrote: “Surely not, this is horrendous if they have gone; how utterly disrespectful”. Other posts described it as ‘absolutely disgusting behavior’.
Southern Housing told HIP: ‘The land where the nuns were historically laid to rest … is owned by The Mother Agnes Trust (who) made the decision to relocate the nuns’ remains. The relocation was conducted properly through all appropriate channels and in full collaboration with the Trust. A memorial will be erected on the site to celebrate the lives of the nuns who lived at the convent.’
They confirmed that all houses on their site would be ‘100% affordable’ and that as part of the project they were undertaking a major restoration of a statue of Queen Anne dating from 1713 which was later bought and installed in Holmhurst St Mary by Victorian writer Augustus Hare. It had fallen into serious disrepair and is now being repaired by a London stonemason and will return to ‘specially landscaped grounds near the Conquest Hospital.’
Exhume the Sisters
The Mother Agnes trust told HIP that ‘the trustees took advice as to what options there would be to ensure the sanctity of the graveyard, whilst respecting the needs of residents and the protection of the badgers… the trustees resolved to seek permission to exhume the sisters and, following cremation, to reinter their ashes involving a suitable and appropriate service of interment and the provision of an appropriate large memorial stone – which is currently being prepared by local stonemasons.’
The trust spokesperson would not confirm how much the operation had cost nor who had paid for it. And when asked why the wall and gates at the graveyard had been removed, they declined to answer.
Bob Hart remains concerned that the undertaking given by Hastings Council’s Conservation Officer had been simply ignored. In his report the officer said: ‘The applicant has confirmed that the nuns’ graveyard will remain untouched but the old gardens will be remodelled in order to deliver the development.’ Mr Hart said “I asked HBC what had changed, but I got no response.”
In general he feels the housing development is welcome and that the restoration of Queen Anne’s statue is a positive move. But whether the nuns’ remains needed to be disturbed is another matter. “I’m extremely sceptical whether badgers really had dug up human remains,” he said, “and anyway there must have been other ways of protecting the graves.” Certainly Nigel Palmer of the Badger Trust believes it would have been quite unnecessary had proper measures been adopted to protect the badgers in the first place. It would have meant the nuns could have been left to rest in peace despite the nearby construction.
How the Nuns were Exhumed
The exhumations were carried out by a specialist contractor Rowland Brothers Ltd of Croydon, a family firm that has been in the business since 1873.
Their Special Projects Manager Michael Gill who oversaw the Holmhurst operation told HIP how it worked.
“Once all the surveys had been carried out and badger escapes placed to ensure they had actually left the site, we screened it off and erected gazebos. A mechanical digger removed the topsoil and then each grave was uncovered by hand by one of our team of four. It’s a bit like an archaeological dig. We were on site for two weeks so it was a lengthy operation. Normally we might do 20-30 exhumations a year. Here we were doing 46 all at once.
The remains were collected and put in coffins we provided. We worked with a local funeral director who arranged for the subsequent hearses and cremations.
It must have been frustrating – and expensive–for the Mother Agnes trust. They had a representative on site for part of the time, and the council’s Environmental Health Officer monitored the work to ensure it was being done competently and sensitively. I estimate it could have cost around the £150,000 mark. It was a big operation. Exhumations are not something you carry out lightly.”
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If I was a badger I’d sue for the headline. Utterly misleading. If you can face reading the article (I gave up after about 3/4 of it) you get to the point. Is this guy a journalist? In brief, the fault is not the badgers, their needs being ignored is. The blame lies firmly with a number of humans and I can’t see anyone pointing fingers at wild animals.
For the record, I am not a badger.
The living live, the dead are dead.