The Lifeboat Support Centre at RNLI Headquarters houses Engineering and Supply, Finance and the Sales company but, during building work in 2003, an 18th-century Baptist burial ground was unearthed here. Analysis of the excavated remains has since shown a diet low in protein, but badly decayed teeth suggest high sugar, meaning relative affluence.

Shards of Venetian glass and French and Spanish ware hint at Poole’s history as a major port. One bone fragment came from a green monkey, native to west Africa, which probably came to Poole onboard a slave ship. Poole was one of the fi rst ports to call for the abolition of slavery, as early as 1792.

The human remains were reburied at a local cemetery in April this year in the presence of RNLI staff and present-day Baptist churchgoers.