Excavations at Drapers Gardens, City of London
By Jon Butler
Website editing: Graham Sherwood
Pre-Construct Archaeology has recently finished a major excavation at Drapers Gardens which could prove to be one of the most important London excavations in recent years. Amongst the large quantity of truly spectacular Roman finds the highlight of the site was a hoard of metal vessels recovered from a late 4th century well, which are currently on temporary display in the Museum of London until 27th January 2008.
The archaeological excavations which were undertaken between February and November 2007 were funded by Canary Wharf Developments and Exemplar Developments LLP on land owned by the Drapers Company. The site was in the upper reaches of the Walbrook valley, 100m south of the City Walls, in an area where four streams of the river which divided the City were predicted to converge. With the exception of a multitude of concrete piles, the surviving archaeology was intact with an unbroken sequence dating to between 1st and 3rd centuries. The waterlain and anaerobic nature of the deposits has resulted in the exceptional preservation of organic materials such as wood and leather and the majority of the metal objects are largely without corrosion.
A timber corduroy, possibly representing a trackway with associated ditches, has been dated by dendrochronology to AD 62, just one year after the Boudican revolt which destroyed the fledging town. Other first century activity consisted of two timber fences or palisades which may have served to enclose an area of higher ground formed by natural terrace gravels and and the remains of a possible children's cemetery consisting of infants buried within small timber boxes or coffins, one of which was of bentwood construction. Perhaps even more intriguing, was the presence nearby of a complete timber Roman domestic door, including top and bottom hinge pivots, which was laid flat on the edge of the channel. It was constructed from three sawn boards, attached on the presumed interior side by horizontal battens. Roman doors are an extremely rare find anywhere in the empire, and it is possibly only the third,
but most complete example found in Britain.
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Roman Infant Burial |
Roman Door |
The east of the site was less truncated that the west and a Roman road with flanking clay and timber buildings was revealed. The north-south road which was composed of compacted gravels and was flanked by revetted ditches, which channelled the waters of the Walbrook, was traced for a length of over 50m and was up to 8m wide. At least three phases, ranging from the pre-Hadrianic period to the late third century AD, of clay and timber buildings founded on well preserved timber piles and baseplates were observed on the east side of the road with only the earliest phase surviving to the west. Two small footbridges across the revetted channels provided access from the road to the buildings.
Revetted Channel
A variety of surfaces for the buildings were revealed across the site including one of opus signinum and a well preserved timber-planked floor but the majority were of beaten earth. Buildings were separated by alleys and small yards, under which were timber drains that emptied into the roadside drains. For the most part these were associated with the disposal of waste, presumably dirty water. However, at one location was a bored square wooden pipe with a fragment of lead piling connected to its upper side, which would suggest that clean water was being supplied.
The Walbrook valley has previously been known for industrial activity and the associated ovens and kilns encompassing areas of the buildings or even tacked onto the side of structures would conform to such activity. Large amounts of leather and an immense assemblage of animal bone also suggest tanning and other bone working processes with a number of tools such as awls and saws also having been recovered. Amongst the finds was a possible carpenter's wooden ruler of pes Monetalis size, marked-off at 3, 6, 8 and 10 inches, the latter two dimensions representing the width of wooden boards of the Roman era. A bear skull, which may have come from Londinium's amphitheatre was also among the star finds. The coins include a Marcus Aurelius dupondius, a very rare find.
Wooden Ruler
4th century occupation was largely confined to a series of timber piles, which represented the foundations of buildings and two square timber lined wells, the preservation of which was remarkable. A further mid 3rd century timber well to the west was of superb craftsmanship with struts utilised as an access ladder.
One of the wells contained a quite exceptional finds assemblage. Found near the base was a hoard comprising nineteen metal vessels almost all of which were in an exceptional state of preservation. Although none is made of a precious metal and all are what might be termed household items they are an extremely rare find for Roman Britain. The hoard consisted of a copper-alloy bucket, a wine bucket, a set of three nested bead-rim dishes and two other similar dishes, the remains of a four-looped zoomorphic hanging bowl, several cauldrons (one of which is a Vestland cauldron, typical of continental design) and bowls, an iron trivet, two shallow one-handled bowls used as dippers, a lead-alloy small dish and flagon and an iron ladle. The survival of such vessels in this condition is astonishing, their almost entirely uncorroded state, remarkable. Beneath the vessels were two coins, confidently dated to
after AD 375, therefore providing a terminus post quem for the deposition. They may have been deposited as a closing ceremony for the well or perhaps to hide it from hostile forces at a time of unrest at the end of the Roman period. Whatever the reason their survival and condition is remarkable. The hoard is an exciting and spectacular find but it should be noted that they are but 19 from over 1100 well preserved metal and registered finds that were retrieved during the course of the excavations.
Copper Alloy Hoard
Now that site work is concluded and the post-excavation processes are in their early stages it is evident from the structural remains and artefactual assemblages that the Drapers Gardens excavations has been one of one of the most important to have been undertaken in the City of London ever.
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