MOLAMUSEUM OF LONDON ARCHAEOLOGY ARCHAEOLOGY STUDIES SERIES 32

Urban development in the north-west of LondiniumExcavations at 120122 Cheapside to 1418 Gresham Street,

City of London, 20057

Sadie Watson

Urban development in the north-west of Londinium

Excavations at 120122 Cheapside to

1418 Gresham Street, City of London, 20057

MOLA Archaeology Studies Series

For more information about these titles and other MOLA publications visit the publications page at www.mola.org.uk

1 A 14th-century pottery site in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey:excavations at 7076 Eden Street

2 Excavations at 7275 Cheapside/8393 Queen Street, City ofLondon

3 Bankside: excavations at Benbow House, Southwark, London SE1

4 A Romano-British cemetery on Watling Street: excavations at 165 Great Dover Street, Southwark, London

5 Excavations at 25 Cannon Street, City of London: from the Middle Bronze Age to the Great Fire

6 The London Millennium Bridge: excavation of the medieval andlater waterfronts at Peters Hill, City of London, and Bankside,Southwark

7 An excavation in the western cemetery of Roman London: AtlanticHouse, City of London

8 The Roman tower at Shadwell, London: a reappraisal

9 Early modern industry and settlement: excavations at George Street,Richmond, and High Street, Mortlake, in the London Borough ofRichmond upon Thames

10 Roman burials, medieval tenements and suburban growth: 201 Bishopsgate, City of London

11 Investigating the maritime history of Rotherhithe: excavations at Pacific Wharf, 165 Rotherhithe Street, Southwark

12 Medieval and later urban development at High Street, Uxbridge:excavations at the Chimes Shopping Centre, London Borough ofHillingdon

13 Pre-Boudican and later activity on the site of the forum:excavations at 168 Fenchurch Street, City of London

14 Roman and medieval development south of Newgate: excavationsat 39 Newgate Street and 1617 Old Bailey, City of London

15 The Doulton stoneware pothouse in Lambeth: excavations at 9 Albert Embankment, London

16 Becoming Roman: excavation of a Late Iron Age to Romano-British landscape at Monkston Park, Milton Keynes

17 A Roman drainage culvert, Great Fire destruction debris and otherevidence from hillside sites north-east of London Bridge: excavationsat Monument House and 1321 Eastcheap, City of London

18 Late 17th- to 19th-century burial and earlier occupation at AllSaints, Chelsea old church, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

19 Roman waterfront development at 12 Arthur Street, City ofLondon

20 Finsburys moated manor, medieval land use and later developmentin the Finsbury Square area, Islington

21 The City Bunhill burial ground, Golden Lane, London:excavations at South Islington schools, 2006

22 Stepney Gasworks: the archaeology and history of the CommercialGas Light and Coke Companys works at Harford Street, London E1,18371946

23 Medieval settlement to 18th-/19th-century rookery: excavations atCentral Saint Giles, London Borough of Camden, 20068

24 New Bunhill Fields burial ground, Southwark: excavations atGlobe Academy, 2008

25 The Hope playhouse, animal baiting and later industrial activity atBear Gardens on Bankside: excavations at Riverside House and NewGlobe Walk, Southwark, 19992000

26 Roman and medieval development south of Cheapside: excavationsat Bow Bells House, City of London, 20056

27 At the limits of Lundenwic: excavations in the north-west ofMiddle Saxon London at St Martins Courtyard, 20078

28 Prehistoric to medieval landscape and settlement at Kemsley, nearSittingbourne, Kent: excavations 20035

29 Roman roadside settlement and rural landscape at Brentford:archaeological investigations at Hilton London Syon Park Hotel,200410

30 Medieval Haywharf to 20th-century brewery: excavations atWatermark Place, City of London

31 Roman occupation south-east of the forum: excavations at 20Fenchurch Street, City of London, 20089

32 Urban development in the north-west of Londinium: excavations at120122 Cheapside to 1418 Gresham Street, City of London, 20057

Urban development in

the north-west of

Londinium

Excavations at 120122 Cheapside to

1418 Gresham Street, City of London,

20057

Sadie Watson

MOLA ARCHAEOLOGY STUDIES SERIES 32

Published by MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology)

Copyright MOLA 2015

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the copyright owner.

The Ordnance Survey mapping included in this publication is Crown copyright, Ordnance Survey. All rights reserved.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Production and series design by Tracy Wellman

Typesetting and design by Sue Cawood

Reprographics by Andy Chopping

Copy editing by Katy Carter

Series editing by Sue Hirst/Susan M Wright

Printed in the United Kingdom by Henry Ling Ltd

at the Dorset Press, an ISO 14001 certified printer

Front cover: a group of domesic pottery from the early Antonine period (c AD

14060), including products of the Verulamium and Highgate industries

CONTRIBUTORS Principal author Sadie Watson

Documentary research Rupert Featherby

Building materials Ian M Betts, with Terence P Smith

Roman pottery Amy Thorp

Decorated samian Joanna Bird

Stamped samian Joanna Mills

Stamped mortaria Kay Hartley

Pottery graffiti Roger S O Tomlin

Saxon, medieval and later Jacqui Pearcepottery

Roman glass Angela Wardle

Medieval and later glass Geoff Egan, John Shepherd, Hugh Willmott

Roman accessioned finds Angela Wardle

Roman coins Julian Bowsher

Medieval and later Geoff Egan, with Nicola accessioned finds Powell, Lyn Blackmore

Plant remains Karen Stewart

Animal bone Alan Pipe

Geomatics/CAD Eamonn Baldwin, Raoul Bull, Mark Burch, Catherine Drew, Cordelia Hall, Sarah Jones, Dave Mackie, Joe Severn

Graphics Hannah Faux, Carlos Lemos,Faith Vardy

Photography Edwin Baker, Andy Chopping, Maggie Cox

Project managers Nick Bateman, Nicola Powell

Editor Katy Carter

List of figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x

List of tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii

Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv

Introduction 1 1.1 Location and circumstances of the excavations . . . . . 1

1.2 Previous archaeological investigations of the

Cheapside area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

1.3 Organisation of the report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

1.4 Textual and graphical conventions . . . . . . . . . . . 4

The landscape before the westward 2 2.1 Geology and topography (period 1) . . . . . . . . . . 6

development of Londinium 2.2 Prehistoric evidence (period 2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

The development of the north-west part 3 3.1 The early Roman sequence, AD 43c AD 120

of the Roman city (period 3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Early Roman external dumping and pitting

(period 3, phases 12) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Quarrying and reused quarry pits (period 3,

phases 12) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Earliest clay and timber buildings on site A

(period 3, phase 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Later 1st-century AD buildings on site A (period 3,

phase 2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Drainage features on site A (period 3, phase 2) . . . . . 15

Earliest 1st-century AD clay and timber buildings

on site B (period 3, phase 2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Construction of Road 1 (period 3, phase 2) . . . . . . 17

Buildings contemporary with or post-dating

Road 1 (period 3, phase 2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Possible metalworking area beside Road 1

(period 3, phase 2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Construction of a large town house on site B,

c AD 90100 (period 3, phase 3) . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Discussion (period 3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

3.2 The 2nd century AD, c AD 120200 (period 4) . . . . 23

Wells and possible industrial area . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Robbing and demolition of Building 27 . . . . . . . . 24

2nd-century AD clay and timber buildings on site A . 24

2nd-century AD dumping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Mid to late 2nd-century AD drainage features . . . . 34

CONTENTS

vi

Road 1 disuse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Disuse of the large town house on site B . . . . . . . . 35

Discussion (period 4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

3.3 The Roman city, c AD 200400 (period 5) . . . . . . 36

Late Roman dumping and pitting . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Dark earth sealing the Roman sequence . . . . . . . . 39

Discussion (period 5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Reoccupation: late Saxon to the mid 4 4.1 Late Saxon activity, c AD 9001050 (period 6) . . . . 40

12th century, c AD 9001150 Late Saxon pitting on Londons western fringe . . . . 40

Late Saxon structural evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Discussion (period 6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

4.2 Mid 11th- to mid 12th-century activity, c 1050

c 1150 (period 7) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Refuse pitting and dumping behind streetfront

properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Chalk and gravel foundations and other structural

activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Discussion (period 7) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Medieval and later urban development, 5 5.1 Medieval activity, c 1150c 1500 (period 8) . . . . . . . 48

c 1150 to modern Cellared building fronting on to Milk Street . . . . . . 48

Cellared buildings fronting on to Gresham Street

(Catte Street) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Other structural remains across the study area . . . . . 53

Chalk-lined cesspits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Medieval pitting behind buildings . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Discussion (period 8) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

5.2 Post-medieval occupation, c 1500modern

(period 9) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Additions to cellared building and medieval

window glass backfill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

An apothecarys shop on Wood Street . . . . . . . . . 59

Further post-medieval structural evidence . . . . . . . 60

Discussion (period 9) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

The character and course of Roman, 6 6.1 Roman development and activity . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

medieval and later development: aspects The earliest Roman activity (period 3) . . . . . . . . . 62

and conclusions Urban development and buildings in the north-west

of the Roman town (period 3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

The late 1st-century AD road and roadside buildings

(period 3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

vii

viii

Early Roman industrial activity (period 3) . . . . . . . 64

2nd-century AD activity (period 4) . . . . . . . . . . 64

The end of Roman occupation (period 5) . . . . . . . 64

6.2 Medieval and later urban development . . . . . . . . . 65

Late Saxon, c AD 9001050 (period 6) . . . . . . . . . 65

Mid 11th- to mid 12th-century activity, c 1050

c 1150 (period 7) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

The later medieval urban landscape, c 1150c 1500

(period 8) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

The study area after c 1500 (period 9) . . . . . . . . . . 66

Specialist appendices 7 7.1 Building materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Material probably linked to the Cheapside baths . . . 67

Other Roman building material . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

7.2 Roman pottery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Introduction and methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

The decorated samian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

The samian stamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

The stamped mortaria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

The pottery graffiti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

7.3 Post-Roman pottery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Late Saxon pottery, c AD 9001050 . . . . . . . . . . 78

Mid 11th- to mid 12th-century pottery, c 1050

c 1150 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Medieval pottery, c 1150c 1500 . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

7.4 Roman glass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Catalogue of illustrated glass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

7.5 Medieval and later glass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Vessel glass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Window glass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

7.6 Roman accessioned finds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Catalogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

7.7 Roman coins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Chronology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

7.8 Medieval and later accessioned finds . . . . . . . . . . 94

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Catalogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

7.9 The plant remains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

ix

Methodology and results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

7.10 The animal bone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

French and German summaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

xFig 1 Location of the study area within the City of London . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Fig 2 Location of archaeological investigations within sites A and B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Fig 3 Locations of other archaeological work in the immediate area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Fig 4 The study area in relation to adjacent features of Roman London . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Fig 5 Graphical conventions used in this report . . . . . . 5Fig 6 Natural feature (OA1) and Late Iron Age pit (OA20)

in the study area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Fig 7 Plan of the principal early Roman archaeological

features (period 3, phase 1): pitting and dumping (OA2), drainage features (OA3), quarry pits (OA4) and external dumping and pitting (OA5) . . . . . . . 10

Fig 8 Early Roman artefacts from Open Area 5: copper-alloy rosette brooch , iron wool comb and enamelled mount . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Fig 9 Ring-and-dot beaker fabric tettina/feeding bottle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Fig 10 Glass vessels , , and from quarry pits (OA4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Fig 11 Artefacts from quarry pits (OA4): copper-alloy brooch , antler roundel pendant and bone spoon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Fig 12 Plan of the early Roman clay and timber buildings (B5, B8, B9 and B12) on site A . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Fig 13 Mosaic from Building 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Fig 14 View looking west across the northsouth beam

slot on Building 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Fig 15 Plan of the 1st-century clay and timber buildings

on site B (B31, B32, B33, B34 and B36), road (R1) and associated open areas (OA21, OA22) . . . . . . . 16

Fig 16 View looking west along the principal eastwest wall line of Building 32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Fig 17 Bone spoon and stone hone from Open Area 21 and iron spearhead from Open Area 22 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Fig 18 Roman glass and from Building 36 . . 19Fig 19 Plan of the large town house (B27) north of Road 1 . 20Fig 20 View looking south along the central northsouth

foundations of Building 27 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Fig 21 View looking north along the drain running

through the southern wall of Building 27 . . . . . . 21Fig 22 View looking south of the small trench to the

north of Building 27, showing a pilae stack on an opus signinum floor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Fig 23 Plan of the principal structures (B1, S1, S3, S4,

S8 and S9) relating to water management in period 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Fig 24 Plan of the 2nd-century AD clay and timber buildings (B4, B6, B7, B8, B10, B11 and B13) on site A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Fig 25 Carnelian intaglio depicting Mars, from Building 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Fig 26 Shale tray from Building 8 . . . . . . . . . . . 27Fig 27 Solid voussoir brick from Building 8 . . . . . 28Fig 28 Surviving timber flooring within Building 13,

looking south . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Fig 29 Building material and pottery from

Open Area 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Fig 30 Evidence of period 4 dumping and refuse pits

(OA6), drainage features (OA11) and pits dug through Road 1 (OA24) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Fig 31 Wall plaster fragments from the study area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Fig 32 Artefacts from Open Area 6: melon bead and bone spindlewhorl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Fig 33 Locally produced pottery from dumps in Open Area 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Fig 34 Possible water pipe from Open Area 11 . . . . 35Fig 35 Late Roman pitting (OA14) and dark earth (OA15)

during period 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Fig 36 Pottery from Open Area 14 . . . . . . . 38Fig 37 Plan of the late Saxon evidence from site A: Open

Area 16 and Structure 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Fig 38 Late Saxon artefacts from Open Area 16: copper-

alloy hooked tag and bone skates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Fig 39 Late Saxon pottery from Open Area 16: cooking pot and base of lamp . . . . . . . . . . 42

Fig 40 Plan of the 11th- to 12th-century features across the study area: Open Area 17, Building 15 and Structure 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Fig 41 View looking south at a section through a pit from Open Area 17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Fig 42 11th- to 12th-century pottery from the study area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Fig 43 Late Saxon lead object with zoomorphic decoration from an Open Area 17 pit . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Fig 44 Pitcher in north French yellow-glazed ware from Structure 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Fig 45 Plan of the medieval structures on site A: Building 22, Building 24 and Building 25 . . . . . . 48

Fig 46 Steps in Building 25 leading down to the cellar . . . . 49Fig 47 Plan of the medieval buildings and other activity

on site B (B43, B44, B47, B48, OA28, S10, S11, S16, S17, S18 and S20) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Fig 48 Building 47 under excavation, looking west . . . . . 50Fig 49 Building 48 under excavation, looking south . . . . . 51Fig 50 Pottery from Building 48 . . . . . . . . 52Fig 51 Pottery from Structure 11 . . . . . . . 55Fig 52 Plan of later medieval pitting across the study

area (OA18) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

FIGURES

xi

Fig 53 Faithorne and Newcourts map of 1658, with the study area highlighted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Fig 54 Plan of the post-medieval structural remains across the study area: Building 49, Structure 12 and Structure 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Fig 55 Handled bowl from Building 49 . . . . . . . . 58Fig 56 17th-century pottery from

Structure 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Fig 57 Post-medieval pottery and from

Structure 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Fig 58 18th-century delft wall tile . . . . . . . . . . 61Fig 59 Two pieces of Purbeck marble from Open

Area 17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Fig 60 Building material with a possible link

to the Cheapside bathhouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68Fig 61 Roman bricks . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69Fig 62 Tegula roof waster from Open Area 14 . . . 69Fig 63 Decorated samian , ,

, , , , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Fig 64 Mortarium stamps . . . . . . . . . . 75Fig 65 Graffiti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Fig 66 Cast bowls and . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Fig 67 Free-blown monochrome and colourless glass

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Fig 68 Free-blown naturally coloured glass , ,

, , and . . . . . . 82Fig 69 Post-medieval vessel glass and . 83Fig 70 Ice glass vessel from Building 49 . . . . . . . 84Fig 71 Decorated fragments of window glass (type 1)

from backfill of cellared building (B48) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Fig 72 Decorated fragments of window glass (type 2) from Building 48 . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Fig 73 Fragments of window glass (type 3) and from Building 48 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Fig 74 Early Roman brooch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87Fig 75 Antler and bone pendants and . . . . . . . 88Fig 76 Glass bead from Open Area 11 . . . . . . . . . 89Fig 77 Bone hairpins from period 4

contexts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Fig 78 Copper-alloy mirror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Fig 79 Craft tools: bone needles and . . . . . . 90Fig 80 Lamps and from 2nd-century AD

contexts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90Fig 81 Stone quern from Building 9, period 3 . . . . 91Fig 82 Glass and ceramic counters from

period 3 and 4 contexts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91Fig 83 Iron keys and . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91Fig 84 Copper-alloy harness pendant from

Open Area 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92Fig 85 Bone waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92Fig 86 Histogram of identifiable Roman coins by

Reece coin periods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93Fig 87 Copper-alloy buckle from Open Area 18 . . . 95Fig 88 Bone artefacts from Open Area 17: comb

and needle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Fig 89 Stone hones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96Fig 90 Late Saxon lead object from pit in Open

Area 17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

xii

TABLES

Table 1 Key to archaeological sites shown in Fig 3 . . . . . 3Table 2 Details of the illustrated ceramic building

materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Table 3 Details of the illustrated Roman wall plaster

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Table 4 Details of the illustrated Roman pottery . 70Table 5 Verulamium region white ware (VRW) mortaria

stamps identified by MOLA Roman pottery specialist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Table 6 Details of the illustrated post-Roman pottery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Table 7 Breakdown of earlier medieval pottery by ware type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Table 8 Breakdown of later medieval pottery by ware

type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80Table 9 Breakdown of pottery from Building 48,

period 8, by fabric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80Table 10 Summary of the Roman vessel and window . . . . 81

glass by form and manufacturing techniqueTable 11 Summary of the identified Roman accessioned

finds by functional group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86Table 12 Identifiable Roman coins by Reece coin periods . . 93Table 13 Plant remains from Roman samples from site A . . 97Table 14 Plant remains from Roman samples from site B . . 98Table 15 Plant remains from medieval and post-medieval

samples from site A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100Table 16 Plant remains from medieval samples from site B . 104Table 17 Hand-collected and wet-sieved animal bone from

site A selected contexts, by period fragment counts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Table 18 Hand-collected and wet-sieved animal bone from site B selected contexts, by period fragmentcounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Table 19 Hand-collected and wet-sieved animal bone from sites A and B percentage fragment counts by period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

This report presents the findings from two adjacent excavationsin the City of London, undertaken by MOLA between 2005and 2007. Although these excavations, of 120122 Cheapsideand 1418 Gresham Street, were separate projects, they arepublished together here to enable a thematic study of a widerarea, which lay within the western part of the Roman town anddirectly north of the main eastwest road (beneath modernCheapside) running towards Silchester.

Geoarchaeological work made it possible to reconstruct thelandscape in the pre-Roman and Roman period. The watertable fluctuated and the ground surface was boggy in places,making the area generally unsuitable for habitation.

In the Roman period the earliest activity across the sites wasquarrying, presumably to provide materials for the constructionof the main eastwest road and other projects undertaken duringthe mid 1st century AD. There was no evidence of extensivepre-Boudican activity. A preoccupation with drainage andwater management was evident, but the area was largely openwaste ground.

The earliest buildings, in the southern part of the studyarea, may have pre-dated the Boudican fire of AD 60/61. Mostof the early buildings, however, date to the Flavian period:ranged along the street on the south side of the study area, thesewere mainly domestic and constructed using timber andbrickearth. One building, which had a fine mosaic floor, mayhave been of higher status: it was near the Cheapside bathhouseand would have been part of a group of larger stone buildingsthere. To the north, more stone foundations with brickearth

walls above may represent an area of larger domestic propertiesnear the amphitheatre to the north-east.

A road was built across the north part of the site in the late1st century AD, running north-west to south-east, consolidatingthe road network in this part of the town. However, its surfacewas not regularly maintained, and it does not seem to have beena major thoroughfare. A large town house built to the north ofthis road at the end of the 1st century is evidence of thedevelopment of the north-western suburb by relatively richinhabitants of Londinium, contrasting with the typical clay andtimber buildings seen elsewhere in the study area.

A major fire, possibly the Hadrianic fire of AD 1205,destroyed buildings in the south-eastern part of the site, althoughother buildings remained in use. There was more extensivedumping in the northern part of the site, where the road fellinto decline. The clay and timber buildings across the study areaseem to have fallen into disuse by the mid 2nd century AD, andthere is no evidence of later Roman habitation.

Evidence from the later Saxon period is limited to pitting,and there is no trace of the market area known to have lainimmediately east of the study area. There is more evidencefrom the mid 11th to mid 12th century, with foundations fromtimber buildings reflecting the general development of the cityat this time, and there is also evidence of small-scale industrywithin buildings fronting on to Gresham Street (then CatteStreet) to the north.

The archaeology for the later medieval period reflects theeconomic growth of London, with two well-preserved cellarsfrom buildings on Gresham Street representing fairly wealthyinhabitants from the merchant class. An assemblage of high-quality medieval window glass from one of these cellars mayhave originated from the destruction of nearby St Albanschurch on Wood Street.

Post-medieval archaeological remains were fragmentary, butdocumentary research revealed a possible link to one inhabitant,an apothecary called John Scarborough.

SUMMARY

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The excavations on the study area were generously funded byLand Securities (120122 Cheapside) and City Offices RealEstate LLP and Hermes Real Estate (1418 Gresham Street).The MOLA staff were given considerable assistance during thefieldwork by the client teams on both sites, and we would liketo thank Tony Maryan and Jonathan Alabaster of Bovis LendLease for 120122 Cheapside and Barry Dobbins of the projectengineers Watermans for both projects. The work at 1418Gresham Street was carried out in consultation with MillsWhipp Partnership and we would like to thank Pete Mills forhis help and advice. In addition, we would like to thank theCity of London Assistant Director (Historic Environment)Kathryn Stubbs for assistance and guidance throughout theprojects.

For help with the site works we would like to thank theMcGees site manager, Frank ODonaghue, and his team at120122 Cheapside, in particular for the safe working practicesthey facilitated, and for 1418 Gresham Street the H Smithsproject manager Alan Wilsher, site managers Richard, Mick,Gary and Lawrence, and their teams. Jim Allen from HASCOMgave advice on health and safety matters.

Thanks are due to the MOLA site staff for their hard workon one or both sites: Bernadette Allen, Eamonn Baldwin, KirstyBone, Tim Braybrooke, Howard Burkhill, Agnieszka Bystron,

Lindy Casson, Aleksandra Cetera, Jon Crisp, Simon Davis,Helen Dawson, George Demetri, Tina Dolan, Vicky Donnelly,Peter Drake, Val Griggs, Satsuki Harris, David Harrison, ChizHarward, Sophie Hunter, Mark Ingram, Daniel Jones, SylviaKennedy, Antonietta Lerz, Hana Lewis, Peter Lovett, Jo Mansi,Victoria Markham, Chris Menary, Sarah Mounce, CharlieNorth, Laura OGorman, Libby Philpott, Sasathorn Pickering,Adele Pimley, Kirk Roberts, Iris Rodenbeusch, CaterinaRuscio, Michael Shapland, Jon Shimmin, Ceri Shipton, SimonStevens, Gemma Stevenson, Imogen Smythson, Riley Thorne,Paul Thrale, Steve Turner, Virginia Vargo, Joseph Walker, MarkWiggins, Christine Wilson, Nigel Wilson, Louise Wood, PaulWordsworth and Frank Zwettler. At 120122 Cheapside SteveTurner did the initial watching brief, the evaluation was carriedout by Lindy Casson, and the standing building recordingexercise on the cellars was carried out by Alison Telfer, MariaUtrero and Andrew Westman. The evaluation at 1418Gresham Street was carried out by Ian Blair; Ian Betts andNathalie Cohen provided advice on the recording of the cellars;and Jane Corcoran provided advice on geoarchaeological aspectsof the site. Specialists who reported on finds included TonyGrey, Mike Hammerson, Lynne Keys and Lucy Whittingham,together with the conservator Liz Goodman. Others whoworked on the 120122 Cheapside project were Chris Clarke,Tom Collie and Helen Robertson from AOC and Will Johnsonand Rik Sawyer from PCA.

Sadie Watson would like to extend particular thanks toAntony Francis, who co-supervised the 120122 Cheapsideexcavations, and Bruce Watson for advice on the cellar steps.Lyn Blackmore is indebted in particular to Leslie Webster,together with James Graham Campbell, Gabor Thomas, DavidWilson and Susan Youngs, for their helpful comments.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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