Rainbow Quay, Rope Street, Southwark,
TQ 3650 7912; (Alistair Douglas); excavation; July-August 1996; Fairclough Homes (Southern) Limited; RES96
The earliest archaeological deposit was an external surface which was composed of wood
debris and gravel, and bound together with pitch. It is likely that this was the original
18th century quay-side when the dock would have been used for the laying up of ships and
for repairs. Sometime after 1740 a new quay-side was constructed perhaps because of rising
water levels. The composition was a mixture of pitch, wood fragments and gravel. It was
upon this second surface that cobbled lanes were laid, and brick and timber structures
erected, some of which appear to be associated with the whaling trade. Constructed on a
timber raft was a circular brick structure 3.98m. in diameter with a rectangular
projection 1.98m long by 3.0m. wide, on the south side. In the centre of the brick
structure was a stepped circular recess, filled with successive layers of fine ash
and silt. This may have been the base for a copper boiling pot in which whale blubber
would have been reduced to produce the commercially desirable oil and other products.
Close to the brick structure was a sunken timber box, which may have been used to contain
the fenks (blubber residue). From deposits associated with the whaling station or at least
with it's demolition, whale bone, fenk, as well as other cultural material including other
animal bone, textiles, pottery, and metal work have been recovered.
The water level may have proved to be a problem at the beginning of the nineteenth
century as the ground level was again raised. The dock edge was rebuilt, with the external
and internal faces being fastened with iron rods. It is thought that these iron rods would
have been joined beyond the edge of excavation to revetting timbers on the waterfront.
By the early nineteenth century the whaling station had been demolished and a warehouse
complex built. The excavation revealed partially standing walls, alley ways: loading bays,
and gateways. Internal elements to the warehouses had also survived, notably the original
timber bases for upright posts which would have supported the ceiling. Reused ships
timbers, especially knees, were found within the foundation cuts.
At some time during the late Nineteenth century the warehouses were demolished and the
ground levelled. Subsequently a timber framed building was erected and a railway track
running at right angles to the dock edge constructed. Both these developments were
superseded by the building of a new warehouse.
Later developments included the installation of hydraulic pipes for the operation of
machinery, and the provision of a railway-track that ran parallel to the quay-side along
which cranes could operate.
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