National Grid Ref.

TQ32488133 

Organisation

MOLAS 

Type of fieldwork

excavation 

Archaeological periods

Roman, Saxon, Medieval 

Summary

London Archaeologist Round-up 1999', forthcoming: A Roman wall of coursed ragstone with tile string courses and rendered E face was revealed, cut into the natural brickearth. This wall seems to prove the existence of an entranceway on the S side of the amphitheatre (GAG87, GYE92) and it may represent one of two angled vaulted passages passing through and under the seating bank of the amphitheatre to the exterior. It is likely that the wall flanking the other side of this entranceway was that observed to the SE in 1985 (GDH85). The clay bank of the amphitheatre was located to the W of this wall, overlaid by dark earth and cut by a single inhumation on a NW-SE alignment, the date of which is either late Roman or early Saxon. A sequence of metalled surfaces was recorded above the inhumation; it belonged to a narrow (N-S) lane which was the forerunner of the later Guildhall Yard. This lane, and the timber buildings that fronted onto it, was probably established in the early 11th c. The remains of two superimposed gateways were found; these would have formed the (N) inner gateway into the Guildhall Yard. The earliest gateway, which may have been built in the 13th c, was composed of two opposing piers that would originally have supported the arched superstructure of the gate. The front elevation and internal splays of the gate were neatly finished with dressed Caen stone. This structure was subsequently demolished to a low level and the ground level through the gateway was raised by the insertion of a blocking wall between the reduced piers. This blocking wall in essence represents the surviving remains of the footings of a secondary, possibly15th c, gateway. The remodelling of the gateway was probably associated with Croxton's rebuilding works during the 15th c. The medieval gateway lies directly over the conjectured southern entranceway into the Roman amphitheatre. 

Related sites:

None linked 

No. of Related publications:

2 publication(s).

London's Roman amphitheatre: Guildhall Yard, City of London MoLAS Monograph 35 (2008). Bateman, N; Cowan, C and Wroe-Brown, R (Site code: GYE92; GAG87; GDH85; GUD99; GM3; GM4; GM13; GM77; GM145; GM216, book). Published by Museum of London Archaeology Service
The London Guildhall: An archaeological history of a neighbourhood from early medieval to modern times MoLAS Monograph 36 Vol:1Bowsher, D; Dyson, T; Holder, N; Howell, I (Site code: GDH85, GAG87, GYE92, GUD99, book). Published by Museum of London Archaeology Service

Total Registered Find records in database

0

Total Bulk Find records in database

0

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