What’s Really Buried Under London? (Hint: It’s Way More Than Just Bones)
When you’re walking around London—whether it’s the shiny glass of the City, the cobbled alleys of Soho, or the polished parks of Kensington—you probably don’t realise just how much stuff is buried underneath your feet.
We’re not just talking about tunnels and tube lines.
London’s underground is a jigsaw of secrets—crypts, rivers, bunkers, lost trains, plague pits, buried treasures, Cold War leftovers, and even an entire Roman amphitheatre.
Let’s take a deep dive—literally—into what’s really beneath London’s surface.
1. Plague Pits: The Forgotten Mass Graves
During the Black Death and Great Plague outbreaks (especially in 1348 and again in 1665), London ran out of space for the dead.
Mass burial sites—aka plague pits—were dug across the city, and thousands of bodies were buried together.
📍 Some known plague pit locations:
Aldgate (near the tube station)
Soho Square
Cross Bones Graveyard (Southwark)
Charterhouse Square (uncovered during Crossrail works)
🔍 These aren't marked tourist attractions. In fact, Londoners walk over them daily—often without knowing. Creepy? A bit. Fascinating? Definitely.
2. Abandoned Tube Stations
London Underground isn’t just the world’s oldest metro system—it’s also a graveyard of stations that no longer exist.
There are over 40 ‘ghost stations’, some sealed off, others used for filming (like Skyfall and V for Vendetta), and some used by the military.
📍 Some notable ghost stations:
Aldwych – closed in 1994, still used for filming.
Down Street – once used as a WW2 bunker by Churchill.
British Museum Station – permanently closed in 1933.
Fun fact: There are guided tours of some of these—check out Hidden London by the London Transport Museum.
3. The Lost Rivers of London
London was once crisscrossed by beautiful rivers and streams. Most are now buried underground—but they still flow.
The most famous? The River Fleet, now hidden under Farringdon and Kings Cross.
Other buried rivers include:
Tyburn – runs under Buckingham Palace.
Effra – flows beneath Brixton and Vauxhall.
Westbourne – now sealed inside a pipe over Sloane Square Tube Station!
If you've ever seen a random pipe or bridge in a weird place... you might be walking over a river you didn’t know was there.
4. A Roman Amphitheatre (Yes, Really)
In 1988, during routine work at Guildhall in the City of London, workers discovered something extraordinary:
The remains of a Roman amphitheatre, dating back to the 1st century.
Today, the ruins are open to the public in the basement of Guildhall Art Gallery—complete with eerie lighting and a digital reconstruction of what the arena would’ve looked like. It once held 7,000 spectators!
📍 Visit: Guildhall Yard, City of London (free entry)
5. Churchill’s Secret War Rooms… and Beyond
We all know about the Churchill War Rooms in Westminster, but London hides many more WW2-era bunkers beneath its streets.
Some remain classified. Others include:
Clapham South Deep Shelter – once housed 8,000 people during air raids.
Kingsway Telephone Exchange – used for Cold War communications.
Pindar Bunker – a high-security government bunker rumoured to be under Whitehall, still in use.
London has a lot of concrete secrets left over from wars that shaped the 20th century.
6. The Mail Rail – London’s Underground Postal Train
Yes, you read that right.
For 75 years, London had a secret underground railway solely for post. It ran from Paddington to Whitechapel, zipping letters and parcels across the city.
📍 Where to see it now:
You can ride the Mail Rail at The Postal Museum in Clerkenwell. It’s a weirdly fun, slightly claustrophobic ride—especially if you're into industrial tunnels and history.
7. Crypts Under Churches
Many of London’s older churches—especially in the City—have underground crypts and ossuaries filled with human remains.
Some are open to the public and seriously worth visiting:
St Bride’s Crypt (Fleet Street) – includes Roman ruins and WW2 bomb shelters.
St Mary-le-Bow – one of the churches you must be born within earshot of to be a “true Cockney.”
St Pancras Old Church – its churchyard was partially moved for the railway, and its lost headstones now form the Hardy Tree, made famous by writer Thomas Hardy.
8. London's Hidden Temples (Yes, Really)
Beneath the financial district lies London Mithraeum—a Roman temple dedicated to the god Mithras, discovered in the 1950s and now housed under Bloomberg HQ.
It’s immersive, beautifully curated, and 100% free to visit.
📍 Temple of Mithras: 12 Walbrook, City of London
9. Ice Wells & Storage Vaults
In the 1800s, huge underground ice wells were dug to store ice brought from Norway. Some of these ice wells—like the one under the London Canal Museum—still exist.
Also worth noting: subterranean vaults and tunnels under Covent Garden, Soho, and Camden were used for everything from black-market booze to Cold War prep.
10. Coffins Beneath Aldgate and Holborn Viaduct
During recent infrastructure upgrades, construction teams discovered dozens of Victorian-era coffins buried beneath street level.
London’s old burial laws allowed for the reburial of many cemeteries under roads, particularly in the 1800s.
Chances are, you're stepping over old graves even in the busiest parts of central London.
Final Thoughts: A City Built on Top of Itself
London isn’t just a city—it’s a stratified timeline, layered with everything from Romans to royals, wartime secrets to rivers, bones to bunkers.
Every step you take here has centuries of stories buried underneath it. So next time you're walking through Bank Station or standing near a City skyscraper—look down and wonder: What’s really under my feet right now?
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