Site record BOY86

Site name

City of London Boys' School (formerly)

Site location

60 Victoria Embankment, 5-11 Tudor Street, EC4

Borough

City of London

Year

1986

Greater London SMR No.

043988-94

Location

Latitude: 51.5119042 Longitude: -0.10581

Summary

Between October 1986 and February 1987 excavations were undertaken within the playground of the school, funded by the Morgan Bank. Natural deposits across the site consisted of alluvial deposits, one of which contained a number of eroded tile and pottery fragments of Roman date. The earliest well-dated material (12th c) was recorded at the N end of the site; this was composed of a series of dumps and naturally accumulated flood deposits. A gravel bank which ran from the NE to SW probably represents the confluence of the Fleet River and the Thames at this period.In the main trench the earliest structural activity was dated to the mid-14th c. This was composed of a massive reclamation dump, associated with a Thames riverside wall constructed in chalk and built on the contemporary foreshore. The construction of the wall was aided by the digging of a shallow foundation trench which was shored with a large wattle fence. The dumping and the wall construction were contemporary in date. The reclamation activity extended the Thames waterfront towards the S by about 50m.Sporadic features recorded on the top of the dumped deposits were sealed by a fire horizon of late 17th-c date, probably the Great Fire. The area to the S of the site appeared to have been reclaimed around this period with a timber revetment recorded at the S limit of excavation. This revetment and associated reclamation is thought to represent the construction of the new quays during the post-Fire rebuilding of this area of the waterfront. The area behind the revetment was reclaimed and consolidated by the driving of more than 700 timber piles. The timbers, when examined, were identified as being reused and were considered to have been originally derived from one or more 17th-/18th-c vessels. Many of the timbers were painted and several were moulded.On the reclaimed land a series of post-medieval brick walls, foundations and cellar floors was recorded. One later cellar floor included a series of three brick-built (baking?) oven bases. During the early 19th c the City Gas Works was constructed on the site, and several structures associated with the gasworks were recorded. Completing the sequence was a forgotten Second World War public air-raid shelter.Waterfront dumps produced several important groups of medieval organic material. The shoes and pattens from the site are an important addition to the collection of medieval footwear from London. One of the shoes was stuffed with seeds of cannabis sativa. A number of scabbards, a glove and some highly decorated fragments from unidentified leather objects were also recovered. Copper-alloy material appears to come from a later medieval workshop, including a copper-alloy coil and a rod, which may be the forms in which the metal was traded in the medieval period. An important find relating to this was a pilgrim's badge of St Eloi, the patron saint of smiths and other metalworkers. Pottery includes some late medieval imports, from Spain and the Southern Netherlands.

Source: Schofield, John with Maloney, Cath (eds.) (1998). Archaeology in the City of London, 1907-1991: a guide to records of excavations by the Museum of London and its predecessors. The Archaeological Gazetteer Series, Volume 1. London: Museum of London. ISBN 0-904818-81-0.

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Site record BOY86