Some were sickly Cambridge University scholars , others homeless wayfarers or simply the infirm . Having fallen on hard times , and being too poor to care for themselves , they all ended up receiving spiritual succour during their last days in the medieval Hospital of St John the Evangelist , set up in 1195 . After they died they were buried in the hospital 's own cemetery whose exact site and scale were a mystery for centuries – until a lecture hall belonging to a Cambridge college needed refurbishing . Incredible find : Archaeologists digging under a building owned by St John 's College , University of Cambridge has unearthed the cemetery of a medieval hospital and the remains of 1,300 people . To their amazement , archaeologists digging under the Old Divinity School – a Victorian building owned by St John 's College , which was founded in 1511 on the site of the hospital and which takes its name from it – unearthed the cemetery and the remains of 1,300 people . Details and photographs of the eerie find are made public for the first time today . Experts said it is one of the largest medieval hospital cemeteries ever discovered in Britain and , with on-going DNA analysis of the remains , will help to cast fresh light on life and death in medieval times . The archaeologists broke out the floors of the Old Divinity School and the team of 20 dug down inside each room . In a six-month dig they found some 400 almost perfectly preserved human skeletons and the partial remains of up to 900 more , all dating from the 13th to 15th centuries . Medieval mysteries : Archaeologists digging under a building owned by St John 's College , University of Cambridge has unearthed the cemetery of a medieval hospital and the remains of 1,300 people . Big dig : Containing about 1,300 burials - including about 400 complete skeletons - the cemetary was found as part of the refurbishment of the Victorian building three years ago but details have only now been made public . History uncovered : Experts say it 's one of the largest medieval hospital cemeteries ever discovered in Britain . As well as the 400 skeletons 'disarticulated ' and 'fragmentary remains ' of what could be as many as 1,000 more individuals have also been found . New light : With on-going DNA analysis of the remains found in the cemetary , experts hope the skeletons will help to cast fresh light on life and death in medieval times . Craig Cessford , of the Cambridge Archaeological Unit , said : 'It was known that the cemetery was in that area , but we did n't know for definite it was where we were working . 'It was a quite amazing find . ' Most of the skeletons are of 25 to 45-year-old men . The hospital was run by Augustinian monks , and pregnant women were excluded . Mr Cessford , 45 , said the skeletons were buried in neat rows and once the cemetery was full , more were buried on top . The names of the dead are a mystery , but the cemetery was found to have had gravel paths , suggesting that people visited their deceased loved ones . The bodies did not exhibit many serious illnesses and conditions . The Archaeological Journal , which reports on the findings in its latest issue , says this reflects how medieval hospitals ' main role was 'spiritual and physical care of the poor and infirm rather than medical treatment of the sick and injured ' .
Medieval cemetery of hospital set up in 1195 found under college . St John 's College was built on the site of the old hospital in 1511 . The first recorded burial at St John's is that of a man named William de la Pole, who died in 1291 and whose remains were buried beneath the church floor. One of the largest medieval hospital cemeteries ever found in UK .