Earlier discoveries around the Poultry site

Chance, position and preservation have made the Walbrook Valley the location of many exceptional discoveries.

Nearly 150 years ago …

Some labourers working a short distance from the Poultry site stood back in amazement. Beneath the soil and rubble, their shovels were grating on the red and yellow tesserae of a perfectly preserved Roman mosaic. Passers-by stopped to watch. Scaffolding was erected, and soon the police were having a hard time keeping back the crowds.

The Bucklersbury Pavement belonged to a grand 3rd- to 4th-century house contemporary with - or possibly even part of - the late Roman buildings found at Poultry in 1994-6. It was meticulously recorded on site by the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society, and is now on display in the Museum of London.

Nearly 50 years ago …

Professor 'Peter' Grimes set his small team of archaeologists to work on an enormous site, just across from Poultry, that had been flattened by bombing during the Second World War. Soon they came upon the walls of a small Roman temple dedicated to the god Mithras. The temple treasures - including the finest sculpture to have survived from Britannia - had been buried below the entranceway, perhaps to prevent them from falling into the hands of Christians.

Over the next two weeks, sightseers hurried to the dig in their thousands and the future of the temple was debated in Parliament. Eventually the ground-plan was rebuilt close to its original site. The treasures are on display in the Museum of London.

Find out more about:

• the Bucklersbury Pavement
• the Temple of Mithras

Description of image(s) on this page

Top: in just three days in 1869 more than 50,000 people came to view the Bucklersbury Pavement

Bottom: the discovery of the temple of Mithras in 1954

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