Adlards Wharf, Bermondsey Wall West, Southwark.
TQ 3419 7983; (David Divers & Alison Telfer); Oct 1996-June 1997; watching brief & excavation; Albany Homes Ltd; BWW96
Natural alluvial deposits were recorded to the south of the site at 0.2m OD. The
earliest manmade feature uncovered was a chalk dump revetted with large secured timbers,
interpreted as part of the Medieval embankment or associated defences which are thought
to be represented by the line of Bermondsey Wall West.
The site produced a sequence of waterfronts and associated land reclamation. A series
of three, presumably consecutive, timber revetments were partially exposed and these
probably represent the early Post-Medieval development of the site.
Six distinct phases of waterfront were fully excavated and recorded, the earliest being
an E-W revetment dating to the early Seventeenth Century and built using several sections
of a clinker built boat. A total of 24 individual timber revetments and a brick built wall
were recorded, the timber being primarily re-used and derived from boats and ships. By
studying cartographic evidence it was possible to identify individual properties uncovered
during the excavation dating back to at least the Seventeenth Century.
Other notable features recorded included a timber building, a c. 16th Century clinker
boat planking, a capsten-base, a slipway, three timber drains, two timber platforms and a
cobbled surface. The fills between the revetments included two dumps from different phases
of pottery kiln waste, including kiln furniture and structural evidence.
|
