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Site record NNR05

Site name

Shoreditch Park

Site location

New North Road, N1

Borough

Hackney

Year

2005

Greater London SMR No.

Location

Latitude: 51.5348067 Longitude: -0.0874117

National Grid Ref.

TQ32758350

Organisation

MOL (LAARC)

Type of fieldwork

field survey, evaluation

Archaeological periods

20th century

Summary

See Also: 'London Archaeologist Round-up 2005': To mark the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II a community excavation took place in the park where high-density housing of the 1830's had been destroyed during bombing raids in 1940-41 and 1944-45. The main trench was sited over the remains of three and a bit properties on the N side of the lost road of Dorchester Street, from pavement to back garden or yard. The foundations of the houses were revealed and demonstrated a consistent arrangement of front parlour and rear dining room. Plentiful finds were recovered from the front of the buildings, presumably where objects had fallen between the floorboards. There was no clear evidence of the road surface or the pavement. Behind the dining room was the kitchen where evidence of drainage and support for a range or hearth was found. In one of the properties this had superseded a smaller kitchen and complex of soakaways and culverts. Adjacent to the kitchen, a solid yard surface led to the external washroom and outside toilet. The rear garden or yard area was clearly used for the disposal of the house ash; numerous objects were also recovered from this area. Two other trenches were excavated, one to test an area associated with the impact of a V2 missile, and the fronts of two houses on the S side of Dorchester Street, which are documented as being totally destroyed. The houses, which seem to have been dismantled, were in a more robust state than those on the N side, possibly because they were erected by different contractors. After 1945 some of the site was used for temporary 'prefab' houses until the whole site was turned into a community park in the 1980's.