Price's Patent Candle Factory, Battersea
TQ 7590 2660; (Karl Hulka) excavation, evaluation and watching brief; May - July 2002; YPE02
Two main areas of excavation were monitored as part of the watching brief. This followed on from previous evaluations at the site ongoing from 1996. Natural Terrace Gravels overlying Brickearth were observed at 3.08m.
The focus of work here was the remains of the Archbishop of York's Battersea Palace, a late 15th century moated house. Also of great interest were any remains of the Battersea Enamel Works 1753 - 1756 as well as at least one later house known as York House.
Against the western limit of the excavation a regular basement cut was retained on the eastern side by a brick wall. The wall is thought to predate the late 15th century development. The basement was partly backfilled following construction and this fill may also predate the late medieval house.
The next phase comprises of Battersea Palace itself. The entire remaining extent of this
building was excavated and recorded. This comprised the southern wall, southwestern corner
tower and a small amount of the eastern wall. To the S of this, the cut of a moat was found which had subsequently been backfilled and culverted. The outer walls contained the remains of six rooms of which the best preserved were in the SE corner. The house was originally constructed of red brick walls with a core of crushed chalk, mortar and fragments of stone. Whilst the exterior face of the building was uniformly red brick, the internal faces of the wall varied from brick to chalk and in places Kentish Ragstone. Virtually all internal faces were plastered. The walls contained window recesses, alcoves, shelving and shafts for garderobes on the floors above. The shell of a newel staircase was also found. One room to the N along the eastern side of the house, appears to have been added at a slightly later date.
During the early reign of Elizabeth I, the building was used as a prison for papists and alterations to the some windows are thought to date from that usage. A radical rebuild of much of the original building appears to have taken place during the 17th century. The moat was backfilled and culverted and additional rooms were added to the southern side of the palace along with areas of cobbled, flagged and brick yard surfaces were recorded. Internally the majority of the floors were relayed and windows blocked or knocked through to make doors as ground levels outside were altered.
The tenants of the former palace undertook substantial demolition and rebuilding of the structures to make way for the Battersea Enamel Works that was established in 1753. The most coherent remains from this period were found in the extreme SE where a complex system of drains, sluices and silt traps were excavated. Possibly associated with this development may be the change in shape and size of some rooms. Other elements of this phase are identifiable from the artefactual evidence or from masonry analysis.
York House dates to the second half of the 18th century and comprises of a rectangular building extending along the eastern and northern sides of the excavation area. The central and south-western part of this area was occupied by a number of outbuildings and yards with underlying drains, culverts, wells and soakaways. By the time of this development the ground level had risen considerably and all structures of this phase are subterranean. Entrance to this level was by means of a staircase in the south-eastern corner, external to the main building. This was subsequently blocked and the staircase on the S side of the northern range was added. The position of frontage to this house has not yet been determined but is almost certainly to the N or E.
The earlier palace rooms also became subterranean. One room was partially truncated by the external staircase and was backfilled. Other rooms became part of an ancillary range and one room was used as a coal cellar. Fragmentary remains of a possible coach house were recorded from this period along with a large wood lined pit containing industrial refuse.
In the mid 19th century the house became incorporated into Price's Patent Candle Factory which was already established between it and the river. This resulted in major structural changes such as brick basements for machinery on the ground floor. A number of these were the mountings for horizontal rods transferring power by belt from engine to machinery. The races for these belts required rebuilding of the house walls in places. Some time later the extant remains of the earlier building were totally demolished and the basements backfilled with the demolition debris.
Subsequent rebuilding of the factory caused significant truncation of the preceding houses firstly by the use of concrete strip foundations and more recently by concrete 'pier base' foundations.
|
