City of London

(1) Alder Castle, 10 Noble Street, EC2V (TQ 3216 8147): a watching brief (NBE23) monitored the pre-excavation of four pile locations and associated foundations within the lightwell in the south-eastern area of the site. A small portion of the Roman City Wall survived in the western pile pit at 13.36 m OD, although heavily truncated to the north. It was preserved for an overall height of 0.42 m and characterised by a ‘puddled clay’ and ragstone foundation overlain by Roman concrete. To the south, the wall was associated with a sequence of Roman deposits which produced a small assemblage of pottery dated to the second century, particularly to the Hadrianic (a.d. 120–40) and the Early Antonine (a.d. 140–160) periods.Footnote ¹⁰²

(2) 50 Fenchurch Street, EC3 (TQ 3327 8092): excavation (FTF18) began in March 2023 and has, to date, included 35 separate interventions. These have revealed a series of Roman buildings, early Roman ditches and a Roman road aligned north-east–south-west crossing the eastern part of site. Early–mid-first century features include a pair of early boundary ditches, clay and timber buildings and initial phases of the road. Evidence of metal-working waste has been found in open areas near to the road. Later Roman masonry structures with tessellated floors and painted plaster walls have been found fronting onto an east–west road to the north, and later phases of the north-east–south-west road. Demolition deposits and robbing events have been recorded dating to the fourth century. The masonry buildings appear to have been in use and redeveloped between the second and fourth centuries. Multiple rooms with evidence for under-floor heating have been recorded in at least two properties. One property includes a tiled bath.Footnote ¹⁰³

(3) 85 Gracechurch Street, EC3 (TQ 3304 8104): an evaluation (GRU24) found the remains of the first Roman forum basilica built in the a.d. 70s, and include a length of the north wall of the south aisle that may have evidence of a doorway. Deposits excavated to the south of this wall had been banked up against its face and included evidence of the wall’s construction. Test pits confirmed other walls had been either robbed in antiquity or had been removed by the construction of the current building in the 1930s. As there was no evidence of a predicted wall, the current reconstructed plan of the first basilica may need to be revised. In addition, some of the deposits found may be evidence of the second forum basilica that replaced the first between a.d. 100 and a.d. 130 and was considerably larger.Footnote ¹⁰⁴

(4) Kimberley House, 14–21 Holborn Viaduct, Meridian House, 34–35, Farringdon Street, and 32–33 Farringdon Street, EC4 (TQ 3162 8145): excavation (HVA21) revealed part of the western cemetery of Londinium along the eastern bank of the Fleet, just to the south of Watling Street. Several burials were encountered, mostly dating to the late first century. Six inhumations were found within well-preserved timber coffins. Other burials comprised cremations and a bustum burial. One individual was recorded buried below a dismantled timber bed. A late Roman inhumation contained an ornate set of necklaces. The southern part of the site contained a timber pile structure which projected south-west into the Fleet. Two of the timbers from the structure have been dated using dendrochronology to a.d. 76. The upper surface of the structure was truncated so its use is not clear; however, it may be associated with a tide mill. Drainage ditches and terracing were recorded as well as possible structural remains of clay floors and walls. A timber box drain was recorded higher up the river bank towards the centre of the site.Footnote ¹⁰⁵

(5) 13–14 King Street, EC2V 8EA (TQ 3248 8125): a watching brief (KIF23) on the foundation investigation pits indicates that there is a complex sequence of archaeological stratigraphy still extant on site, surviving to the east of the sub-basement, at basement level. The archaeology was recorded in section and consisted of Roman layers that likely represent a series of buildings, walls, internal floors and external metalled surfaces, with associated make-up and occupation deposits and overlain by Roman to post-Roman demolition deposits.Footnote ¹⁰⁶

(6) 10 King William Street, EC4N (TQ 3276 8089): seven trial trenches (ACK24) were monitored, followed by underpinning trenches, after which three mitigation areas were excavated. Heavily truncated Roman levelling deposits were recorded, dating to the first century a.d. Structural remains comprised brickearth floor surfaces overlain with demolition deposits containing roof tile and painted wall plaster. Associated dump deposits contained pottery dating to the first century a.d.Footnote ¹⁰⁷

Southwark

(1) Land at 52 Southwark Bridge Road, 74–83 Union Street and 33 Great Guildford Street, SE1 0NW (TQ 32220 80060): evaluation revealed three phases of Roman occupation. The earliest evidence of activity was a sequence of occupation/made ground layers, dated to a.d. 43–150. Truncating this early horizon were five cuts of second- and third-century origin, three of which contained very poorly preserved human remains. The remaining two cuts did not yield any human bone but were also interpreted as graves, based on their size, shape and stratigraphy. The burials probably belonged to the southern extent of a known Roman cemetery at America Street, situated directly to the north of the site. Later Roman features, including deposits sealing the earlier cuts as well as two pits, dated to the third/fourth century were also recorded. This horizon represented occupation and activity within the site which superseded its use as a cemetery.Footnote ¹⁰⁸

(2) Southwark 2.0 District Heating Network: Surrey Canal Road to Ilderton Road, Old Kent Road, Brimmington Park, Asylum Road, Peckham Canal Walk, SE15 (TQ 3517 7733): a trench (DHN24) was excavated at the junction of Old Kent Road and Ilderton Road. Above a layer of natural brickearth or alluvial clay, a truncated section of Roman road was exposed, 5.32 m wide and extending across the full trench, though truncated at both ends by modern services. The road’s construction included several layers, starting with a base of indurated orange sandy gravel, followed by compacted gravelly sands and two layers of chalk.Footnote ¹⁰⁹

Tower Hamlets

(1) SEGRO Park, Wapping, The Highway, E1W 3HR (TQ 3576 8094): an evaluation of nine trenches (SGO24) was carried out. Natural deposits across the site were overlain by a subsoil deposit containing Roman pottery and interpreted as a Roman agricultural subsoil. This deposit, seen in six out of nine trenches and recorded at between 8.77 m OD and 8.27 m OD, contained pottery from the early Roman period (a.d. 43–200). The sherds were mainly from amphora, either Baetican early Dressel 20/Haltern 70 fabrics or Unclassified Gaulish amphora fabrics. Several large sherds of Rhineland hook-flanged mortarium were also recovered from the subsoil. Centrally to the site, this subsoil was cut by a possible Roman ditch and may indicate further presence of a Roman agricultural landscape with cut features on site. This feature also contained fragments from Dressel amphora and other smaller fragments including two sherds from a north French/south-east English oxidised ware vessel and one sherd from a Verulamium/London region white ware vessel dating to a.d. 43–160.

The Roman agricultural subsoil and feature were cut by a number of post-medieval features and structures which form the majority of the site archaeological sequence.Footnote ¹¹⁰

(2) 60–100 The Highway, Wapping E1W 2AZ (TQ 34588 80681): evaluation uncovered a large Roman boundary ditch situated along the northern limit of excavation, on a similar east–west alignment to other Roman boundary ditches seen in nearby excavations at Tobacco Dock and Babe Ruth restaurant sites (to the east of the study area). These boundary ditches respected the likely course of the Roman road to the north. Several smaller, dispersed Roman features were found in the southern part of the site; these were undoubtedly part of the known Roman settlement at Shadwell.Footnote ¹¹¹