Bermondsey Wall West and Chambers Street
TQ 3428 7977; (Duncan Stirk and James Taylor); evaluation and excavation; 8 August 2001 - 12 April 2002; BCB01
The evaluation comprised five trenches and the excavation was effectively an extension of one of the evaluation trenches. A watching brief was also carried out on a series of geotechnical pits excavated across the site, 12 in total. Natural alluvial clay silts with peat bands was recorded at 0.5m OD.
'Bermondsey' peat was identified across the site, probably dating to the Bronze Age. Prehistoric activity on the site is very limited. A small assemblage of burnt and struck flint was found in the upper natural alluvium, sealing the peat. This was probably associated with low scale human activity in the area at this time.
Medieval activity on the site can be divided into two broad phases, centred around a N-S Medieval channel. The first, a row of postholes orientated E-W, probably formed a fish trap or weir. This is broadly contemporary with a bed of large chalk blocks laid in the base of the channel possibly a barge bed.
The second Medieval phase represents the deliberate disuse of the channel through damming, with large wooden beams, tiebacks and wattling, used to contain an infill of redeposited alluvial clay. This appears to have been used as a part of the foundation for the clay embankment, which would have served as the river flood defence.
Two phases of building activity dating to the 17th and 18th centuries overlay Bermondsey Wall West associated with the development of wharfage activity including timber river and dock walls. One reused timber included post holes for clench bolts and a strong bevel suggested origin in the end of a vessel. Other timbers with iron hinges could have functioned as a locker lid or similar feature. The site was then levelled and truncated by 19th century and modern industrial and docking activity.
The disuse of a 17th century building was marked by the partial robbing of a wall filled with residual pottery dating to between 1625 and 1650 suggesting the lifespan of the building was fairly short. An elm log pipe, dating to c. late 17th century or later, was laid N-S suggesting this may have taken water in rather than have drained into the River. A later phase of structures were recorded from construction cuts for the foundations of a range of terraced buildings stretching E-W and continuing outside of the area of excavation were recorded. These mainly consisting of brick built, cellared buildings and dated to the mid 18th century. The site is then levelled and truncated by 19th century and modern industrial and docking activity.
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