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Site record SON85

Site name

Mansion House

Site location

Mansion House Street, EC4

Borough

City of London

Year

1985

Greater London SMR No.

083241-5

Location

Latitude: 51.5129339 Longitude: -0.0894669

National Grid Ref.

TQ3267381080

Type of fieldwork

watching brief

Archaeological periods

Roman, Medieval

Summary

A watching brief was carried out during August 1985 within trial trenches beneath the Mansion House. Natural gravels sloped down to the W, into the Walbrook Valley. On the E side seven metalled surfaces representing a yard or street were sealed by late Roman debris. This dump was overlaid by a chalk-mortar make-up which may have been associated with St Mary Woolchurch Haw which occupied part of the site in the medieval period. Further down the hill to the W a large accumulation of alluvial deposits overlay the natural gravels, containing undated industrial and domestic rubbish. These waterlogged levels were sealed by substantial clayey dumps. A Roman masonry structure in the immediate area is inferred from large fragments of semi-articulated building debris, which appeared to have collapsed or have been dumped over the sealing layers. This material may have derived from a Roman building recorded only 3m to the S during earlier underpinning work in 1917. There was no dating associated with this material.

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.