77-91 Mortlake High Street;
TQ 2071 7599; (Lorraine Darton); evaluation; 7-11 August 2000 & excavation; 13 November-22 December 2000; Berkley Homes (West London) Limited; MKH00
Evaluation
Natural clayey sand overlying sand (probably alluvial) was observed between 2.93m OD and 3.92m OD. Prehistoric features were cut into the natural sand in the trench to the south-east of the site, close to Mortlake High Street. A linear E-W gully with no finds cut across the middle of the trench. A shallow circular pit with a stakehole in its centre was found to the NW corner of the trench it and contained a fragment of burnt flint.
Phased 16th and 17th century buildings were found in the trench furthest to the east. An external E-W wall ran parallel to Mortlake High Street, with an abutting internal wall running N-S towards the river. An earlier N-S wall was truncated towards the east of the trench by the substantial E-W wall. A series of 18th century drains respected the line of the later building in the trench and continued to the trench immediately to the west, connecting with a NW-SE running drain. The backfill of the drain was truncated by a clay lined 19th century wall, which was backfilled with material including saggers from a pottery production kiln. There were also remains of 18th-19th century walls in two of the trenches.
Excavation
An L-shaped trench was opened in the eastern half of the site. Overlying natural gravels a multi-phased network of Post-Medieval brick walls and brick drains were revealed in the eastern half of the trench, to the east of a N-S brick property boundary wall originally dating to the 16th century. To the west of the wall a brick hexagonal structure was revealed cutting into the natural gravels.
A late Medieval brick building was recorded in the north-east corner of the site which had a glazed-tile floor, overlying a patterned brick floor. Several late Medieval- early 16th century pitched brick hearths were found to the west of the late Medieval building. Fragmentary 16th century walls were also found in the south of the site.
Three walls of a substantial late 17th century building in the south east of the site, truncated the 16th century buildings. During the 18th century the building appeared to have been converted for industrial usage, as many vents had been knocked through the brickwork. The building extended northwards towards the Thames as more rooms were added, and several phases of drains led from the building north-west toward the Thames. The building was eventually demolished in the late 18th- early 19th century.
A late18th-early 19th century hexagonal brick structure in the western half of the site was thin walled and lined externally with puddle clay. The internal walls were rendered and a lead pipe in its centre overlay a deposit of pottery wasters and kiln furniture and was overlain by clay then gravel and backfilled with domestic rubbish. This structure may have formed the base of a tank used for industrial processes.
|
