The convicts' burial-ground

Book illustration of the burial ground of convicts from the prison ship 'Defence', from page 224 of 'The criminal prisons of London and scenes of prison life' by Henry Mayhew and John Binny. The authors describe visiting the low lying piece of land "in no way distinguishable from any section of the dreary expanse, save that the long rank grass had been turned, in one place lately, and that there was an upset barrow lying not far off... Beyond this was a shed, where cattle found shelter in bad weather; and to the right the land shelved up between the marsh and the river. There was not even a number over the graves; the last, and it was only a month old, was disappearing. In a few months, the rank grass will have closed over it, as over the story of its inmate.... We followed the governor up the ridge that separates the marsh from the river, and walked on, back towards the arsenal. As we walked along we were told, that under our feet dead men's bones lay closely packed; the ridge could no longer contain a body, and that was the reason why, during the last five or six years, the lower ground had been taken."