PCA Special Reports

Somerset House East Wing Redevelopment

Somerset House today-the east wing is to the left of the photo © www.somersethouse.org.uk/history/the-tudor-palace

Client: King's College. London

King's College London are refurbishing the east wing of Somerset House in order to provide much needed additional accommodation for the University. These works involve stripping the interior of the Grade I listed building and lowering the basement floor. Pre-Construct Archaeology Ltd was invited to carry out watching brief and excavation work in the basement and building recording work on the newly exposed areas of the historic building. The current building lies within the Strand Conservation Area and was designed and built by Sir William Chambers in the 1770s as the 'New Public Offices'. The East Wing was added in the late 18th century as part of a large complex of Navy and Government offices, Arts societies, and officials' houses.

Somerset House today-the east wing is to the left of the photo © www.somersethouse.org.uk/history/the-tudor-palace
The site lay outside the walls of the Roman city, but during the Saxon period it was located within the area of Lundenwic, which was centred around Covent Garden. The route of the present Strand was established during the medieval period.

A Tudor palace was constructed on the remains of medieval buildings in the 1550s for Edward Seymour, Lord Protector of Edward VI and Duke of Somerset. After Somerset's execution, the palace passed through various hands; it was occupied by the young Elizabeth I and then passed to Anne of Denmark in the 1590s when it became known as Denmark House. Besides hosting lavish and expensive entertainments at Denmark House, Anne initiated a major reconstruction of the palace from 1609, much of it to designs by Inigo Jones. Further reconstruction was undertaken by Henrietta Maria, Queen of Charles I in the 1620s. During the Civil War Denmark House was used as quarters for General Fairfax who commanded the Parliamentary Army, and Oliver Cromwell lay in state at the building after his death. Christopher Wren supervised another major redecoration of Somerset House following the restoration of the Monarchy in 1685 when Queen Catherine of Braganza took up permanent residence following the death of her husband Charles II

During large parts of the 18th century Somerset House was used for a variety of purposes. Court officials occupied some of the rooms, other parts of the building were given over to storage and offices, including those of the Duchy of Cornwall, while the State Apartments were occupied by foreign embassies or visiting dignitaries. From 1722 the Horse Guards took over the stables and in 1756 a battalion of Foot Guards were quartered in the palace.
This period saw the palace fall gradually into ruin. In 1718 Vanbrugh observed that Somerset House was the "most out of repair" of all the royal palaces and no longer able to keep out the weather. The continued neglect led to the inevitable decision to pull the building down and George III agreed that the site be given over to public offices, with the provision Buckingham House should take the place of Somerset House as the official dower house for the queen. Demolition began in 1775 and continued in stages as the new Somerset House was constructed around it. (www.somersethouse.org.uk/history/the-tudor-palace).

During the excavation work in the basement, Pre-Construct Archaeology Ltd found various phases of archaeological remains dating from the Saxon period to the modern era. During the Saxon period the area of Somerset House and the Strand lay within the port of Lundenwic, the major London settlement of the time. Archaeological remains in the form of pits dating to the Saxon period were recorded. These pits contained loom weights, artefacts directly related to the weaving of cloth, giving an insight into everyday life during this period. A number of substantial chalk wall foundations, provisionally dated to the medieval period, were also found. Buildings were known to be standing on the area of the site from the 12th century onwards, including a church and chapel, and the foundations encountered may relate to these. The next phase of occupation recorded was a number of brick and masonry foundations relating to the original Somerset House erected in the 16th century. Many of these foundations were composed of decorated and moulded stonework architectural elements from other buildings, re-used at Somerset House. Some of these foundations recorded may relate to one of the various reconstructions and alterations to the renamed 'Denmark House' which occurred during the 17th century.
Drainage runs of 18th/19th century date, 19th century brick heating flues and the remains of 19th century partition walls of the current building were also found.

Left Picture: Central lightwell of building showing multiple phases of activity. A 19th century flue curves east-west through the centre of the lightwell, cutting an earlier 18th century culvert running north-south. Tudor foundations run north-south on the right hand side of the foreground with possible medieval chalk foundations on the left hand side of the background.

The historic building recording confirmed that the east wing had originally been built as a series of separate buildings each with their own entrances and staircases. Documentary research has shown that these buildings housed independent administrative and revenue departments. Gradually, the Inland Revenue expanded at the expense of other departments and eventually filled the entire wing. Alterations were carried out in 1829-1830 with the insertion of doorways through party walls between the buildings and the addition of partition walls. The recording of the building showed where 19th century architraves had been added. During the Second World War timber shoring was inserted in the basement presumably to enable staff to shelter there during an air raid.

In the late 1960s an internal refurbishment was carried out to remove some of the staircases and create a central spine corridor on each floor to connect the building together. The Inland Revenue has recently moved out of the East Wing. Building recording was carried out before and during refurbishment works for King’s College London and the Somerset House Trust and has concentrated on understanding the development of the building over time as well as recording historic fabric which was exposed, covered up or removed during the refurbishment. This record was broadly in accordance with that defined by English Heritage’s Level 3/4.

Assessment and publication work for the project is ongoing.