Stone sarcophagus reveals Roman origins at St Martin-in-the-Fields
4 November 2006
A Roman limestone sarcophagus, weighing 1.5 tonnes and containing a human skeleton, has been discovered at St Martin-in-the-Fields during excavations by archaeologists from the Museum of London.
The site lies well outside the previously established boundaries of London’s Roman city walls and has opened up an exciting new area of Roman London for study.
The burial dates from the late 4th or 5th century AD, late in the Roman period. Only a few such burials have been found in the UK in modern times. The head had been removed from the grave when the lid of the sarcophagus was damaged by workmen building a sewer in the Victorian period.
This and the discovery of a Roman tile kiln dating from 400-450 AD indicates that a significant Roman building once existed near the site of St Martin-in-the-Fields. No other tile kilns have been found in central London, and the kiln is the latest dated structure from Roman London yet to have been found.
The sarcophagus and tile kiln are just two of a large number of finds from the site, including Saxon jewellery.
St Martin-in-the-Fields is currently undergoing a £36 million renewal for the church and its associated buildings.
More than 20 burials have been found across the whole site during the excavation, although many thousands were removed during the 19th century. The majority of burials recovered are probably medieval.
The site lies at the western edge of the large middle-Saxon town of Lundenwic, which was located where Covent Garden is now. Anglo-Saxon burials, early in development of the town, were discovered here not only during the current investigation, but also in the 18th century, during construction of the portico area of the present church. Such a succession of usage for a site is so far unique in Westminster.
Although no physical evidence of an early/Middle Ages church building has been found during the excavation, rare Anglo-Saxon burials from the beginning of the 7th century AD point to the sacred use of the area from Saxon times through to the present. Along with earlier Saxon discoveries, these burials link St Martin’s with Lundenwic. It now seems likely that the current church is on the site of an earlier Saxon predecessor.
The most attractive finds from the site are grave goods from the Anglo-Saxon burials including an exquisite gold pendant with blue glass ‘stone’, copper alloy and silver rings and amethyst and glass beads from necklaces or other jewellery. A rare find is a copper hanging bowl decorated with a delicate enamelled motif.
This was placed at the feet and contained an offering of hazelnuts, symbolising rebirth. A beautiful glass cup is similar to another, which was found in the 18th century when Gibbs’ portico was built at the site and is currently on display at Museum of London, on loan from the British Museum.
The Museum of London team suspects that other finds were removed from the site in antiquity. The earliest documented record of St Martin-in-the-Fields is of a 13th-century treasure hunt at the church (see below – Notes to Editors) where the citizens rioted and began to frenziedly dig all over the site.