In this British history podcast, we dig up some extraordinary stories of death and dying.
Find out how it cost to get into heaven in medieval times.
Hear the story of corpse roads. Public paths with names such as ‘Church-way’ or ‘Kirk-way Field’ that were once funeral roads, such as the path Swindale to the beautiful Shap Abbey
What was a sin eater? And who was the last recorded person paid to eat off a dead body.
Down a backstreet south of the River Thames, is the Crossbones Graveyard – an unconsecrated resting place for hundreds of prostitutes who lived. Hear stories of the women who worked and died in this libertine corner of London.
Find out why Victorian Londoners were literally dancing on a giant graveyard just off The Strand.
Hear about London’s two necropolis railway companies, as we follow the story of Brookwood cemetery, once the largest in the world.
There is nothing as strange as funeral mutes. And it was Charles Dickens’s novel Oliver Twist that brought an end to this strange tradition.
We visit Brompton Cemetery to investigate a tomb time machine.
And discover which internationally famous cemetery was invaded by vampire hunters in the 1970s.
Then go in search of Freddie Mercury’s ashes.
Half an hour of dead fascinating stories.
Listen to our British history podcast here: