31 James Street, Covent Garden
TQ 3031 8095; (Jim Leary); excavation; 28 January - 5 February 2002; JST02
A basement slab was removed. Mixed sands and gravels were recorded across the site. This would have been overlain by brickearth, but had been truncated to a level of 19.02m OD by the Post-Medieval basement.
The earliest occupation on the site is identified from a possible Saxon pit measuring approximately 2.5m in diameter and 0.5m deep. This was filled with a quantity of animal bone, oyster shell and other domestic debris and may indicate the organised disposal of waste over a period of time. However, this may not represent the primary function, since the pit was clay lined, suggesting other uses such as tanning or cloth dyeing. The pit may have been originally excavated as a gravel quarry. Three body sherds of Mid-Saxon pottery were recovered from the clay-lining.
A shaft that measured approximately 1m in diameter and 1.2m in depth was interpreted as a well. The original cut had been lined with a thick layer of brickearth clay and a thinner, outer skin of puddled London Clay. Evidence of degraded wood from around the edge suggested that the well had a timber lining, and a radiocarbon determination from this suggests a date of c. AD 600.
A shallow linear feature, filled with clean, re-deposited brickearth, may represent a gully.
By the late 17th/18th century development in the form of buildings had occurred on the site, relating to the major development of the streets and the piazza. This is evident from the archaeological record by a brick lined cesspit and a wall with associated brick floor. The cesspit contained an interesting assemblage of Dutch and English Delftware wall tiles, depicting both religious and classical scenes.
A number of modern service trenches, and ground raising deposits, recorded across the site.
|
