A smallpox cemetery is enough to make anyone run a mile. But reporter CORINNE McPARTLAND finds out how it brought one community together.

DEBBIE Fryer was employed as a community development officer to work on segregation in the Temple Hill estate in Dartford.

Half of the estate was built in the 1950s and the other half only about 15 years ago.

There was a lot of anti-social behaviour and mistrust between residents.

In June last year a resident complained to Debbie about the state of the Joyce Green Cemetery in Cornwall Road.

It was used as a smallpox burial ground for the old Joyce Green Hospital during two outbreaks in the early 1900s and the 1950s.

But as the last person was buried in the mid-50s, the area had turned to wasteland.

Debbie, of Green Place, Crayford, said: "People were having to live next to a dump and we decided to get the community involved in clearing it."

She contacted the Department of Health about clearing the site but to her surprise it decided to give the community the land for free.

The 47-year-old said: "We were absolutely gobsmacked but did not waste a second."

Along with the Temple Hill Community Forum, Debbie organised a series of events to clean up the land.

The youngest volunteers were from Temple Hill Community Primary and Nursery School, St Edmund's Road, Dartford.

Debbie also asked contractor McAlpine, which was working across the road on the Dartford Bridge project, to lend a hand.

She said: "They cleared paths, removed burnt-out cars and years of fly-tipping."

Neighbouring archaeologists, The Bexley Archaeology Group (BAG), were interested in the site's historical background.

They have helped, alongside the Learning Skills Council, to teach volunteers about archaeology.

Debbie said: "We had a free 10-week course to teach us the skills.

"Since then we have organised a four-week dig involving volunteers from the community.

BAG field officer Ann Al-Jalili said: "This is a hugely interesting site and it is so important to involve everyone in the excavation."

The volunteers found maps of the cemetery dating back to 1902 which revealed more than 300 graves at the site, while 1,040 bodies had been buried there.

Resident John Tidy said: "We have found headstones, graves and the remains of a mortuary.

"We have uncovered a cobbled path they used to wheel the bodies down from the hospital."

The three-and-a-half acre site is separated into sections and bodies which were laid to rest in the early 1900s were buried together in sacks.

This means there are large bumps in the ground indicating their position.

John said: "The later ones were buried in what we consider to be real graves with headstones."

The volunteers have now started to trace the some of the headstones back through genealogy websites.

Debbie said: "We have only scratched the surface.

"We hope to finish clearing the wood and re-name it the enchanted woodland so the whole community can enjoy it.

"A community which was separated has got together to work towards something worthwhile."

For more information, visit enchantedwoodland.co.uk