Jubilee Line New Signalling Equipment Room, Stratford Market Depot, Stratford, E15
TQ 3902 8344; (Denise Mulligan); watching brief; 1 November - 5 November 2004; Tube Lines Ltd; JSM04
Natural sandy gravel was recorded between 102.4m OD and 101.82m OD.
The archaeological watching brief comprised the monitoring of the excavation of four window-hole sample geotechnical test pits and three archaeological test pits. Natural sandy gravel was observed in all of these.
The Natural sandy gravel was sealed by a deposit of natural sand on the west side and a deposit of probable alluvium on the north side. This may suggest a possible palaeochannel along the northern area of the site, possibly a small tributary of the Channelsea to the west. Two worked flints were recovered from the top of the alluvium suggesting prehistoric activity on the site. On the north east of the site an E-W aligned ditch cutting through the alluvium contained no dateable artefacts but may be medieval or earlier. Both alluvium and dirty sand were sealed by a layer of probable plough soil with the exception of the western side of the site. Here a layer of mortar and chalk covered the base of the test pit and bricks of 16th to 18th century date were laid on top of it. The mortar surface and structure were overlain by a demolition layer consisting of mid 18th century tiles sealed by a series of
possible later gravel floors and occupation surfaces. A series of late 17th to 18th century made ground deposits sealed all the test pits and late 20th century raised concrete cable ducts truncated the higher of the deposits. Although the area of the proposed development site lies within the Stratford Langthorne Priory precincts, neither human remains associated with the cemetery nor structures associated with the priory buildings were revealed, although the 16th century bricks may have originated from the priory.
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