What lies beneath? Old cemetery raises concerns for Anglican cathedral expansion

There's a lot of history in the Anglican Cathedral of St. John the Baptist but it's the history under the building that could be a challenge tothe church's expansion plans.

The diocese wants to build a new two-storey annex and ministry centre attached to the historic building off Duckworth Street in St. John's.

But a local historian is concerned that expansion will disturb the burial ground of as many as 20,000 migrant fishermen from more than 300 years ago.

"I'm going to say something politically incorrect, but if this were a burial ground of Indigenous people, there would be no question they wouldn't go ahead with this," Robert Sweeny told CBC'sOn the Go.

Archdeacon Roger Whalen, however, says they dug five exploratory holes around the construction site and found no evidence of any bodies.

"What we found when we did our test digging was rubble from the fire mostly the fire of 1892," he said.

The area was acemetery, but Whalen said the bodies seemed to have been moved sometime around 1885, and possibly re-interred at the cemetery on Forest Road.

A provincial archeologist will be on site for the construction if it gets the approval from the City of St. John's and will flag any issues as they come up.

Many of the graves would be unmarked and dating back to the late 1600s. Sweeny said peoplewould have been wrapped in cloth and placedon top of each other.

"There's no real way of knowing how many bodies are there," he said.

Sweeny said well over a million men came through the province during the days when the cemetery was operating, and with theshort life expectancies ofthe 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries in the fishing and trading industries,plus rampant spread of disease, it's difficult to pinpoint how many people could be buried there.

"This operated for 170 years, with a much larger mobile population moving through it. So, we're probably dealing with the largest pre-Confederation cemetery for working people in Canada," he said.

"People would have been stacked. In Quebec City they're 10 deep, so probably 14 to 15 deep here."

Building willreplaceother properties

The new building will also include the bishop's office and staff, a new resource centre,and a small caf. It will replacethe current functions of the parish hall onKing's Bridge Road, but the church will keep that propertyas well.

"That's going to be very important for functions that we have with the parish and for our outreach to the community," Whalen told CBC News.

The design of the new proposed building is in stark contrast from the mid-1850schurch it will be attached to, and while Whalenhas heard criticism of themodern design, he said an old church with a modern extension is not uncommon, citing examples of old cathedrals in Toronto and Chicago with modern additions.

Whalen says the church hopes to begin construction by August.

The building proposal is making its rounds through approvals from the City of St. John's, and Whalen said it has passed by the city's heritage panel with some small changes.

The plan though, has yet to be signed off on by city council itself, something Whalen hopes will happen soon.

Funding will come from the diocese itself, and not from the congregation, he said.

Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador