Ahead of next month’s digs, the Crossrail archaeology project has published information about 5,000 Londoners it believes were buried in the Bedlam hospital graveyard in the 16th and 17th centuries.

The information came to light thanks to a team of 16 volunteers, who have been scouring old parish records since June 2014.

Jay Carver, Lead Archaeologist at Crossrail said: “This research is a window into one of the most turbulent periods of London’s past. These people lived through civil wars, the Restoration, Shakespeare’s plays, the birth of modern industry, plague and the Great Fire.”

The team expect to uncover about 3,000 bodies over the course of the excavation, including some notable and controversial figures. One of these is Dr John Lamb, who was an adviser to the first Duke of Buckingham, and was stoned to death in 1628 by a mob who accused him of witchcraft and other colourful crimes.