Bermondsey Square

Description

Pre-Construct Archaeology’s excavations at Bermondsey Square began in 1998, on the scheduled site of the Cluniac Priory and Church of St Saviour. Redevelopment provided an opportunity for archaeological interventions focussed on western elements of the church, priory and abbey. These complement earlier investigations around the eastern parts of the priory. Subsequent excavations undertaken within the vicinity are also incorporated in this publication, while the extensive and rich artefactual, faunal and osteological assemblages recovered form a second volume.

Tantalising evidence of sporadic prehistoric occupation of north Southwark was revealed, spanning the neolithic to the later Iron Age. Occupation intensified in the Roman period, with field systems and structures indicative of agricultural activity. By the fourth century, two substantial masonry buildings had been constructed. These were later extensively quarried, plausibly to provide building material to enable the construction of a middle Saxon minster, or later Saxon church, in the location of the later priory.
An early Norman church and associated cloister garth were succeeded by extensive building campaigns which progressively enlarged the complex throughout the medieval period. Following the Dissolution in 1538, a courtyard-style building, Bermondsey House, was built from salvaged materials from the demolished abbey, directly over its foundations. Later, separate ranges were constructed to the east. A decline in fortune in the 18th century led to Bermondsey House being increasingly subdivided into separate households. The construction of Abbey Street in the early decades of the 19th century destroyed much of the church and later buildings but attracted the attention of the antiquarian John Chessel Buckler, whose records and illustrations have helped to inform our understanding of the archaeological remains.