Newham Museum Archaeology Project Archives
Newham Museum Service, 2000. https://doi.org/10.5284/1000328. How to cite using this DOI
Data copyright © Newham Museum Service unless otherwise stated
This work is licensed under the ADS Terms of Use and Access.
Primary contact
London Borough of Redbridge
Lynton House
255 - 259 High Road
Ilford, Essex
IG1 1NN
England
Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 265
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1000328
- How to cite using this DOI
Barking Abbey Lodge: ALB 85
[File last modified 17th March 1997]
Site Summary
Site Location TQ 4398/8374
ALB 85 was located on the north western corner of the junction of Abbey Road and Town Quay and was to be the site of a Petrol Station. The proposed petrol station therefore lay on the southern perimeter of both the conservation area and the medieval precinct of Barking Abbey and 15m to the east of The Town Quay, 30m north of BA-WF 87, 50m north-west of BA-GE 86 and close to the southern edge of BA-I 85 , an excavation with abundant evidence of Saxon occupation.
Site Funding
The site was organised and directed by the Passmore Edwards Museum (PEM) but staffed by the Archaeological Section of Forest Projects an organisation funded by the Manpower Services Commission (MSC).
Site Methodology and Recording
The site recording system was the Harris Matrix method of single context planning developed by the Museum of London. All the site team understood this method before the work began.
Background
The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham Planning Committee received a planning application for the construction of a petrol station at this site. The Planning Committee rejected this application because they thought that this development blighted the conservation area. The petrol company appealed against this decision and the Minister of State for the Environment, Nicholas Ridley, agreed with them. Planning Permission, however, did contain a clause which specified that the site should be archaeologically investigated prior to construction.
There were a number of reasons for wishing to investigate this site:
- The proposed petrol filling station lay some 200m to the south of the important Saxon site coded BA I 85 and it was necessary to investigate this site to establish the limits of Saxon occupation.
- The River Roding was an important communications route in the Saxon period. It has been suggested that the site lay close to the point at which the Abbess's Barge would have been moored and it would have been useful to find evidence to support this theory.
- There is written evidence which suggests that the southern gateway to the Medieval Abbey lay on or close to the site and it was thought useful to find archaeological evidence to support this theory.
- The proposed site lay some 15m from the current edge of the Town Quay. It was thought possible, therefore that an archaeological investigation of this area might provide features associated with the fishing industry.
The Site
The Trench
A Trench, "U" shaped in plan, was opened which measured approximately twenty metres at its widest point and thirty metres on its longest axis and was aligned north-south. The mouth of the "U" was to the north and closed by the wall of the property to the north whilst the remaining sides were surrounded by roads.
Archaeology
Post-medieval
Demolition of a bungalow and removal of made ground revealed the footings of Victorian housing. Removal of these features revealed a mosaic of pitched roof tile and river rolled pebbles portraying anchors and possible roses and bearing the date 1614. This may be the floor of a public house and the date may relate to the laying of the floor, as it is not the year of any known major event. Attempts to lift the floor failed because the tile protruded too deeply into the ground. Underneath this floor was a cobbled surface and on either side of this were brick features which may be the gate house. A room on the western side of the gate house contained brick built kidney shaped oven with a pitched medieval tile base. During excavation of this structure it was found that the footing were of stone, a number of which were moulded and might have originated in the Abbey. The fact of these moulded stones may indicate that the oven was built after the dissolution of the abbey.
Limited excavation below these features revealed a number of other stone walls.
Following the conclusion of the fieldwork, the Archaeological Section of Forest Projects undertook some post-excavation work but did not complete an archive report.
At the beginning of the site a 2m deep sondage was dug in the eastern side of the site which at that depth produced Saxon pottery. The site was not bottomed and all the features and finds probably relate to the post-medieval period. When the contractors took over this site timbers were seen on top of their spoil heap, however, it was very late at night and they were removed by lorry in the morning and could not, therefore be recovered.
The Finds
| Post-Medieval: | Pottery | Report required |
|---|---|---|
| Stone | Report required | |
| Glass | Report required | |
| Brick | Report required | |
| Tile | Report required | |
| Small Finds | Report required |
These finds have been washed, marked and conserved where necessary.
This site was excavated largely by the Archaeology Section of Forest Projects, an M.S.C. organisation. Much of the post-excavation has been completed and there exists an extensive collection of illustrations and photographs.
| Registers Registers exist for: |
Context Sheets |
|---|---|
| Plans | |
| Finds | |
| Sections | |
| Photographs | |
| Small Finds | |
| Matrix |
Interpretation
The site produced evidence to suggest that the south-western gatehouse of the Abbey had stood on this site. On either side of a cobbled roadway were red brick buildings, the eastern most of which carried, on its north-east corner, the base of a circular turret stair. After the dissolution of the monastery the westernmost building appears to have been converted to a bakery whilst the roadway was resurfaced with a mosaic, suggesting that the area had become enclosed. Timbers were seen on the contractors spoil-heap the provenance of which could have been either the revetting of a waterfront structure, or as this was fairly wet ground, the piles to support the structures found on the site.
