7. GREATER LONDON

CITY OF LONDON

(1) Landmark Court, 15–31 Southwark Street (TQ 32484 80100): an archaeological excavation¹¹⁷ was undertaken in advance of the development of the site known as The Liberty of Southwark. In 2021 two large areas were excavated in the eastern and southern parts of the site. Excavation revealed the underlying topography of the site, which is located on the southern part of a gravel island – or eyot – skirted by a prehistoric/early Roman water channel, known as the Southwark Street channel. Several phases of Roman timber revetment were recorded in the channel. Its waterlogged fills yielded some well-preserved metal and organic finds, including a length of linked chain, a metal spoon with a twisted handle and half a fruit kernel. The channel was sealed below thick dump deposits – also rich in finds including oyster shells, large quantities of ceramics, including a complete unguent jar and fragments of decorated and stamped samian wares and amphorae, glass beads, a copper-alloy brooch, coins, bone hair pins, the lower part of a clay Venus figurine, oil lamps and gaming counters fashioned out of the bases of pots. Above the deposits were Roman buildings, first uncovered on the site in 2005.¹¹⁸ The excavations revealed the stone foundations for a timber-framed building with two rooms with tessellated floors. The building may have been associated with a gravel yard area recorded to the east and a timber-braced well. A similar sequence of activity was recorded in the higher ground to the north-east. Channels cutting through the natural were overlain by dump deposits above which were Roman buildings. Excavations revealed the southern extent of a building complex which had a long period of development with many phases of rebuilding and repairs taking place during the first to fourth centuries. The building plots were defined by stone masonry walls. Initially, the southernmost areas of the plots remained open and may have functioned as yards or gardens for the buildings to the north which were recorded during the 1980s.¹¹⁹ At some point the plots were developed and the stone walls reused as foundations for timber-framed buildings. The better preserved of these was divided into four rooms, one paved with opus signinum, one with a tessellated floor, including a fragment of a polychrome decorated mosaic panel, and two rooms paved with gravel. The partition walls were preserved up to 0.5 m high, with wall plaster decorated with broad horizontal bands in red and white. Demolition deposits of these buildings contained much high-quality painted wall plaster in a range of colours, including some decorated and moulded elements. The building underwent several phases of rebuilding and repair: the floors resurfaced, and the walls repaired and replastered. Finds recovered from inside the buildings and the demolition deposits include coins, a gaming piece, and a small number of bone hair pins, both plain and highly decorated, as well as pottery. The buildings may have been accessed via a pathway to the west leading from the main thoroughfare to the north. Towards the end of the Roman period the buildings were abandoned and the area was used as an inhumation cemetery. Over 20 burials were excavated; the majority were located in the open areas between the buildings, though a small number cut through their floors. A small number of finds was recovered from the graves including glass beads and coins. One grave had a complete pot placed over the body, another had a bone comb. Dark earth deposits overlay the Roman sequence and were truncated by medieval and post-medieval activity. Work continued into 2022.

(2) Kimberley House, 14–21 Holborn Viaduct, Meridian House, 34–35 Farringdon Street, & 32–33 Farringdon Street (TQ 31629 81440): following evaluation in 2021, a second phase of evaluation¹²⁰ comprised 11 c. 2.5 m by 2.5 m trenches. Survival of Roman stratigraphy was mostly contained within a relict flood plain of the River Fleet, located on the western side of the site. This consisted of a sequence of alluvial layers, buried by a medieval ‘dark earth’ deposit. Finds from the deposits suggest that the layers are well stratified, with the earliest dated by pottery to c. a.d. 140–200 and the latest to c. a.d. 350-400. Human remains were also found in these layers. While in good condition, the disarticulated state of the bones and lack of grave cuts suggest that they have been washed in by the river (possibly from the western Roman cemetery to the north of the site). Some fragments of Roman pottery were found in the eastern side of the site. While these are considered residual, they do suggest that there was Roman activity on this part of the site. Mitigation excavations are expected to commence in early 2023.

(3) 30–33 Minories and 13 Haydon Street (TQ 33677 81021): an evaluation¹²¹ was undertaken in four trial trenches and three wall exposures. One pit (B1, near the centre of the site) revealed a potentially Roman inhumation burial at 10.10 m AOD. The grave cut was aligned east–west, continuing beyond the southern and eastern limits of the trial pit. Only third- to fourth-century Roman pottery was recovered from a slot excavated through the grave fill. The inhumation is located east of 17 Roman inhumations recorded at 13 Haydon Street,¹²² in an area known as the eastern Roman cemetery. In addition, a possible Roman ditch, or other deep-cut feature, was recorded to the south of the burial. That feature was over 1.80 m deep and may relate to the eastern Roman cemetery – perhaps marking a boundary. The thick, homogenous backfill contained building material dating to the first to third century a.d., but also pottery from the late tenth or eleventh century, indicating that it may have remained open until the early medieval period. The base of the feature was not located due to safety constraints. The site also contained structural features, possibly foundations related to the medieval Abbey of St Clare and subsequent post-medieval urban development.

(4) 4a, 4b & 5 Frederick's Place (TQ 32512 81208): a watching brief and excavation¹²³ continued from 2021.¹²⁴ In the interim, the standing building had been demolished.

Roman features again comprised remains of elements from buildings, including brickearth floor layers, possible beam-slot remains and accompanying stake holes. A tile hearth and barrel well were also recorded. The buildings had been constructed on top of intercutting backfilled rubbish pits, with some additional evidence for quarrying; this combination created a horizon of slumping and repeated re-levelling. At the southern end of the site was evidence for possible manufacture or commerce; along the northern edge was a series of gravel bands, which had formed a Roman roadway aligned east–west. From previous fieldwork elsewhere, this road appears to have run roughly between the fort and the forum. The ditch which was seen during the earlier fieldwork phase appeared again below the road. Human bone was recovered from two contexts, but the nature and date of this has yet to be determined. Deposits survived at a maximum height of c. 10.50 m AOD. Although dating still needs to be confirmed, it is likely that the pitting occurred in the first century a.d., with the building activity and road dating from the later first–second century a.d.

HAVERING

(1) Rainham Lodge Farm, Upminster, London Borough of Havering (TQ 5439 8477): evaluation trenching¹²⁵ in advance of an application for mineral extraction uncovered a range of archaeological features of various dates, including early Roman ditches and pits, probably including enclosures and perhaps a cremation burial (although the dating of the latter was ambiguous).