Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T22:13:41.832Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The capital rediscovered: archæology in the City of London

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2009

John Schofield
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article reports on the contribution made by almost twenty years of archaeological excavations to the historical outline of the City of London from earliest times to c. 1800. It seeks to familiarize historians with programmes of excavation and publication, and argues that the regional implications extend well beyond the confines of the metropolis.

Type
Research Article
Information
Urban History , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , October 1993 , pp. 211 - 224
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Hobley, B. and Schofield, J., ‘Excavations in the City of London: first interim report 1974–5’, Antiquaries Journal, 57 (1977), 31–66CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Dyson, T. and Schofield, J., ‘Excavations in the City of London: second interim report, 1974–78’, Transactions of London and Middlesex Archæological Society, 32 (1981), 24–81Google Scholar; Spence, C., The DUA Annual Review for 1988 (Museum of London, 1989)Google Scholar; Spence, C. and Grew, F., The DUA Annual Review for 1989 (Museum of London, 1990).Google Scholar

2 Schofield, J., ‘Archæology in the City of London: archive and publication’, Archæological Journal, 144 (1987), 424–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3 Merriman, N., ‘A prehistory for central London’, London Archæologist, 5 (1982), 318–26Google Scholar; idem, Prehistoric London (London, 1990).

4 Milne, G., The Port of Roman London (London, 1985)Google Scholar; Brigham, T., ‘The late Roman waterfront in London’, Britannia, 21 (1990), 99–183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

5 Merrifield, R., The Roman City of London (London, 1965).Google Scholar

6 Williams, T., Public Buildings in the South-west Quarter of Roman London, Archæology of Roman London 3, Council for British Archæology Research Report 88 (1993).Google Scholar

7 Milne, G. (ed.), From Roman Basilica to Medieval Market: Archæology in Action in the City of London (London, 1992).Google Scholar

8 Several reports by dendrochronologists both of the University of Sheffield and, more recently, of the Museum of London Archæology Service. For examples, see Hillam, J. and Groves, C. in Miller, L., Schofield, J. and Rhodes, M., The Roman Quay at St Magnus House, London, London and Middlesex Archæological Society Special Paper 8 (1986)Google Scholar, and in Maloney, C. with de Moulins, D., The Upper Walbrook Valley in the Roman period, Archæology of Roman London 2, Council for British Archæology Research Report 69.Google Scholar

9 Davies, B., Richardson, B. and Tomber, R., A Dated Type-series of Roman Pottery from London, Archæology of Roman London 5, Council for British Archæology Research Report, in preparation.Google Scholar

10 Maloney, C., Upper Walbrook.Google Scholar

11 Marsden, P., ‘The excavation of a Roman palace site in London 1961–1972’, Transactions of London and Middlesex Archæological Society, 26 (1975), 1–102.Google Scholar

12 Grimes, W.F., The Excavation of Roman and Medieval London (London, 1968), 15–46.Google Scholar

13 Marsden, P., The Roman Forum Site in London: discoveries before 1985 (London, 1987)Google Scholar; Brigham, T., ‘A re-assessment of the second basilica in London, AD 100–400: excavations at the Leadenhall Court, 1984–6’, Britannia, 21 (1990), 53–97CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Milne, , From Roman Basilica to Medieval Market.Google Scholar

14 Rhodes, M., ‘Wall-paintings from Fenchurch Street, City of London’, Britannia, 18 (1987), 169–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

15 Maloney, J., ‘Recent work on London's defences’, in J. Maloney and B. Hobley (eds), Roman Urban Defences in the West, Council for British Archæology Research Report 51 (1983), 96–117.Google Scholar

16 Perring, D. and Roskams, S., The Development of Roman London West of the Walbrook, Archæology of Roman London 1, Council for British Archæology Research Report 70 (1991).Google Scholar

17 For example, Wilmott, T., ‘Excavations at Queen Street, City of London 1953 and 1960,’ and ‘Roman timber-lined wells in London’, Transactions of London and Middlesex Archæological Society, 33 (1982), 1–78Google Scholar; Shepherd, J., ‘The Roman features at Gateway House and Watling House, Watling Street, City of London’, Transactions of London and Middlesex Archæological Society, 37 (1986), 125–44.Google Scholar

18 Marsden, P., ‘Two Roman public baths in London’, Transactions of London and Middlesex Archæological Society, 27 (1976), 1–17Google Scholar; Milne, , Port of Roman LondonGoogle Scholar; Marsden, P., Roman London (London, 1980).Google Scholar

19 Milne, Port of Roman London; Miller et al., Roman Quay at St Magnus House; for overall review at the end of the 1980s, Brigham, ‘Late Roman waterfront’. Roman river and tide levels are discussed by Milne, G., Batterbee, R., Straker, V. and Yule, B., ‘The River Thames in London in the mid-first century AD’, Transactions of London and Middlesex Archæological Society, 34 (1983), 19–30.Google Scholar

20 Marsden, P., ‘Early shipping and the waterfront in London’Google Scholar, in Milne, G. and Hobley, B. (eds), Waterfront Archæology in Britain and Northern Europe, Council for British Archæology Research Report 41 (1981), 10–16Google Scholar; Marsden, P., Ancient Ships and Boats of London, in preparation.Google Scholar

21 Davies, et al., Roman Pottery.Google Scholar

22 Goodburn, D.M., ‘A Roman timber-framed building’, Archæological Journal, 148 (1991), 182–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

23 Henig, M., ‘A cache of Roman intaglios from Eastcheap, City of London’, Transactions of London and Middlesex Archæological Society, 35 (1984), 11–15.Google Scholar

24 Prichard, F., ‘Ornamental stonework from London’, Britannia, 17 (1986), 169–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

25 Rhodes, M., ‘Inscriptions on leather waste from Roman London’, Britannia, 18 (1987), 173–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

26 Hill, C., Millett, M. and Blagg, T., The Roman Riverside Wall and Monumental Arch in London, London and Middlesex Archæology Society Special Paper 3 (1980).Google Scholar

27 Maloney, J., ‘Recent work on London's defences’.Google Scholar

28 Hill, et al., Riverside WallGoogle Scholar; Williams, , Public Buildings.Google Scholar

29 Grimes, , Excavation of Roman and Medieval London, 92–117Google Scholar; Toynbee, J., The Roman Art Treasures from the Temple of Mithras, London and Middlesex Archæological Society Special Paper 7 (1986).Google Scholar

30 Bentley, D. and Pritchard, F., ‘The Roman cemetery at St Bartholomew's Hospital’, Transactions of London and Middlesex Archæological Society, 33 (1982), 134–72.Google Scholar

31 Barber, B., Bowsher, D. and Whittaker, K., ‘Recent excavations of a cemetery of Londinium’. Britannia, 21 (1990), 1–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

32 Merrifield, , Roman City of LondonGoogle Scholar; Marsden, , Roman LondonGoogle Scholar; Perring, D., Roman London (London, 1991).Google Scholar

33 Rhodes, M., ‘The Roman coinage from London Bridge and the development of the City and Southwark’, Britannia, 22 (1991), 179–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

34 Biddle, M., ‘London on the Strand’, Popular Archæology, 6/1 (1984), 23–7Google Scholar; Vince, A., ‘The Aldwych: Saxon London discovered’, Current Archæology, 93 (1984), 310–12.Google Scholar

35 For example, Cowie, R., ‘A gazetteer of Middle Saxon sites and finds in the Strand/Westminster area’, Transactions of London and Middlesex Archæological Society, 39 (1988)Google Scholar; Cowie, R. and Whytehead, R., ‘Two Middle Saxon occupation sites: excavations at Jubilee Hall and 21–22 Maiden Lane’, Transactions of London and Middlesex Archæological Society, 39 (1988)Google Scholar; idem, ‘Londonwic: the archæological evidence for Middle Saxon London’, Antiquity, 63 (1989), 706–18.

36 For example, Dyson, T., ‘London and Southwark in the seventh century and later: a neglected reference’, Transactions of London and Middlesex Archæological Society, 31 (1980), 83–95.Google Scholar The standard history of London at this period is Brooke, C. and Keir, G., London 800–1216: the Shaping of a City (London, 1975), which was written before the current extensive campaigns of excavations.Google Scholar

37 Grimes, , Excavation of Roman and Medieval London, 155–9.Google Scholar

38 Horsman, V., Milne, G., and Milne, C., Aspects of Saxo-Norman London I: Building and Street Development, London and Middlesex Archæological Society Special Paper 11 (1988).Google Scholar

39 Dyson, T., ‘Two Saxon land grants for Queenhithe’, in J. Bird, H. Chapman and ]. Clark (eds), Collectanea Londoniensia: Studies in London Archæology and History presented to Ralph Merrifield, London and Middlesex Archæological Society Special Paper 2 (1978), 200–15.Google Scholar

40 Vince, A. (ed.), Aspects of Saxo-Norman London II: Finds and Environmental Evidence, London and Middlesex Archæolocial Society Special Paper 12 (1991)Google Scholar; on textiles and the cloth industry see Pritchard, F., ‘Late Saxon textiles from the City of London’, Medieval Archæology, 28 (1984), 46–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

41 Steedman, K., Dyson, T. and Schofield, J., Aspects of Saxo-Norman London, III: the Bridgehead and Billingsgate to 1200, London and Middlesex Archæological Society Special Paper 14 (1992).Google Scholar

42 Grimes, , Excavation of Roman and Medieval London, 203–9.Google Scholar

43 Marsden, P., Dyson, T. and Rhodes, M., ‘Excavations at the site of St Mildred's church, Bread Street, London, 1973–4’, Transactions of London and Middlesex Archæological Society, 26 (1975), 171–208.Google Scholar

44 Schofield, J. et al. , ‘Parish churches in the City of London’, in preparation.Google Scholar

45 White, W., Skeletal Remains from the Cemetery of St Nicholas Shambles, City of London, London and Middlesex Archæological Society Special Paper 9 (1988).Google Scholar

46 Vince, A., Saxon London (London, 1990).Google Scholar An earlier summary showing the development of some ideas is Dyson, T. and Schofield, J., ‘Saxon London’, in Haslam, J. (ed.), Anglo-Saxon Towns of Southern England (Chichester, 1984), 285–314.Google Scholar This appeared just as the mid-Saxon town around Aldwych was being rediscovered.

47 Biddle, M. and Heighway, C., The Future of London's Past (Worcester, 1973).Google Scholar

48 A survey of those records most useful for topographical reconstruction is Keene, D. and Harding, V., A Survey of Documentary Sources for Property Holding in London before the Great Fire, London Record Society, 22 (1985).Google Scholar For an attempt to compare archæological, documentary and antiquarian material see Schofield, J., The Building of London from the Conquest to the Great Fire (London, 1984; 2nd rev. ed., 1993).Google Scholar

49 Dyson, T., Documents and Archæology: the Medieval London Waterfront (London, 1989)Google Scholar; Steedman, et al. , Aspects of Saxo-Norman London 3Google Scholar; Schofield, J., Allen, P. and Taylor, C., “Medieval buildings and property development in the area of Cheapside’, Transactions of London and Middlesex Archæological Society, 41 (1990).Google Scholar

50 Milne, G. and Milne, C., Medieval Waterfront Development at Trig Lane, London and Middlesex Archæological Society Special Paper 5 (1982)Google Scholar; Milne, G., Timber Building Techniques in London, c. 900–1400, London and Middlesex Archæological Society Special Paper 15 (1992).Google Scholar

51 The main studies are Jenner, A. and Vince, A., ‘A late medieval Hertfordshire glazed ware’, Transactions of London and Middlesex Archæological Society, 34 (1983), 151–70Google Scholar; Vince, A., ‘Saxon and medieval pottery in London: a review’, Medieval Archæology, 29 (1985), 25–93CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Pearce, J., Vince, A. and Jenner, A., London-type Ware, London and Middlesex Archæology Society Special Paper 6 (1985)Google Scholar; Pearce, J. and Vince, A., Surrey Whitewares, London and Middlesex ArchÆological Society Special Paper 10 (1988).Google Scholar A further study of medieval imports is intended.

52 Cowgill, J., de Neergaard, M. and Griffiths, N., Knives and Scabbards, Medieval finds from excavations in London 1 (1987)Google Scholar; Grew, F. and de Neergaard, M., Shoes and Pattens, Medieval finds from excavations in London 2 (1988)Google Scholar; Egan, G. and Pritchard, F., Dress Accessories, Medieval finds from excavations in London 3 (1991)Google Scholar; Crowfoot, E., Pritchard, F. and Staniland, K., Textiles and Clothing, Medieval finds from excavations in London 4 (1992).Google Scholar

53 Egan, G., The Medieval Household: Daily Living c. 1150–c. 1450Google Scholar, Medieval finds from excavations in London 5, in preparation; Clark, J., The Medieval Horse and Its Equipment, in preparationGoogle Scholar; Spencer, B., Pilgrim Badges, in preparations.Google Scholar For a first review of evidence for industry, see Egan, G., ‘Industry and economics on the medieval and later London waterfront’, in Good, G. L., Jones, R. H., and Ponsford, M. W. (eds), Waterfront Archæology: Proceedings of the Third International Conference, Bristol, 1988, Council for British Archæology Research Report 74 (1991), 9–18.Google Scholar

54 Schofield, et al. , Medieval Cheapside.Google Scholar For other finds of note near Cheapside, see Clark, J., ‘Medieval enamelled glasses from London’, Medieval Archæology, 27 (1983), 152–6.Google Scholar

55 Schofield, J., ‘Medieval waterfront buildings in the City of London’, in Milne and Hobley, Waterfront Archæology, 24–31Google Scholar; Brigham, T., ‘Billingsgate: medieval period’, in preparation; J. Schofield and T. Dyson, Medieval Waterfront Tenements, in preparation.Google Scholar For studies of London's buildings and their construction, see Schofield, J., Building of LondonGoogle Scholar; idem, The London Surveys of Ralph Treswell, London Topographical Society 135 (1987)Google Scholar; idem, ‘Medieval and Tudor domestic buildings in the City of London’, in Grant, L. (ed.), Medieval Art, Architecture and Archæology in London, British Archæological Association Conference Transactions for 1984 (1990), 16–28Google Scholar; idem, ‘The construction of medieval and Tudor houses in London’, Construction History, 7 (1991), 3–28; Gadd, D., ‘The London Inn of the Abbots of Waltham: a revised reconstruction of a medieval town house in Lovat Lane’, Transactions of London and Middlesex Archæological Society, 34 (1983), 171–8.Google Scholar

56 Tatton-Brown, T., ‘Excavations at the Custom House site, City of London’, Transactions of London and Middlesex Archæological Society, 25 (1974), 117–219Google Scholar; idem, ‘Excavations at the Custom House: part II’, ibid., 26 (1975), 103–70.

57 Marsden, P., ‘The pre-1411 Guildhall of London’, London Archæologist, 4 (1981), 115–20Google Scholar; Samuel, M., ‘The fifteenth century garner at Leadenhall, London’, Antiquaries Journal, 69 (1989), 199–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

58 In Schofield, et al. Parish Churches, and Schofield and Dyson, Medieval Waterfront Tenements respectively.Google Scholar

59 Schofield, J. and Lea, R., Holy Trinity Priory, Aldgate, in preparation.Google Scholar

60 Grainger, I. et al. , St Mary Graces, in preparationGoogle Scholar; Thomas, C. et al. , St Mary Spital, in preparation.Google Scholar

61 Armitage, P. and West, B., ‘Faunal evidence from a late medieval garden well of the Greyfriars, London’, Transactions of London and Middlesex Archæological Society, 36 (1985), 107–36Google Scholar; Brown, G., ‘Excavations in the Greyfriars’ garden (POM79)', in preparation.Google Scholar

62 Whipp, D., ‘Excavations at the Tower Postern’, in preparation.Google Scholar

63 For instance, Maloney, J. and Harding, C., ‘Duke's Place and Houndsditch: the medieval defences’, London Archæologist, 3 (1979), 347–54.Google Scholar Other reports based on excavations of 1984–92 are being prepared.

64 Brown, R.A., ‘Some observations on the Tower of London’, Archæological Journal, 136 (1979), 99–108CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Parnell, G., ‘The Tower of London: the reconstruction of the Inmost Ward during the reign of Charles II,’ Transactions of London and Middlesex Archæological Society, 31 (1980), 147–56Google Scholar; idem, ‘The western defences of the Inmost Ward, Tower of London’, ibid., 34 (1983), 107–50.

65 Boyd, P., ‘The palaeoecology of estuarine deposits associated with archæological sites, with particular reference to the City of London’, in Brothwell, D. and Dimbleby, G. (eds), Environmental Aspects of Coasts and Islands, British Archæological Reports International Series 94 (1981), 87–8.Google Scholar

66 For general archæological studies of post-medieval London, see Milne, G., The Great Fire of London (New Barnet, 1986)Google Scholar; Schofield, , London Surveys of Ralph Treswell.Google Scholar For the archæology of Wren churches, see Schofield, et al. Parish Churches, in preparation.Google Scholar

67 The excavations at Baynard's Castle are still only reported in archive notes, Museum of London. For Bridewell, D. Gadd and Dyson, T., ‘Bridewell Palace: excavations at 9–11 Bridewell Place and 1–3 Tudor Street, City of London, 1978’, Post-Medieval Archæology, 15 (1981), 1–79.Google Scholar

68 Schofield, and Lea, , Holy Trinity PrioryGoogle Scholar; Schofield, , London Surveys of Ralph TreswellGoogle Scholar, Thompson, A., Grew, F. and Schofield, J., ‘Excavations at Aldgate, 1974’, Post-medieval Archæology, 18 (1984), 1–148CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Vince, A., Egan, G. et al. , ‘The contents of a late eighteenth-century pit at Crosswall, City of London’, Transactions of London and Middlesex Archæological Society, 32 (1981), 159–82.Google Scholar For an excavated site in Pudding Lane, see Milne, G. and Milne, C., ‘A building in Pudding Lane destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666: excavations on the Peninsular house site, 1979–80’, Transactions of London and Middlesex Archæological Society, 36 (1985), 169–82.Google Scholar

69 Britton, F., London Delftware (London, 1987).Google Scholar

70 Charleston, R. and Grew, F., ‘Glassworking in seventeenth-century London’, Journal of Glass Studies, in preparation.Google Scholar

71 Egan, G. and Moir, D., ‘Post-medieval finds c. 1450– c. 1700 from City of London sites 1972–82’, in preparation.Google Scholar

72 Pearce, J., Border Wares, Post-medieval pottery from London 1 (1992)Google Scholar; Bown, L. and Nenk, B., Redwares, in preparationGoogle Scholar; Edwards, J., Tin-glazed Wares, in preparation.Google Scholar

73 Details of the new programme may be obtained from the Museum of London Archæology Service, Museum of London, London Wall, London EC2Y 5HN. Many excavations of 1983–93 in the City were not in the programme described here, and their publication is currently being considered. The Archæology Service and English Heritage are also currently working on an assessment of present archæological knowledge for the whole London area, as the basis for future research frameworks.

74 The publication programme was directed by the writer in 1983–89, and by Francis Grew in 1989–91. We gratefully acknowledge the contributions of Gill Andrews, Gill Chitty, Tony Dyson, Roger Thomas, Alan Vince and Angela Wardle to the management of the programme.