Newham Museum Archaeology Project Archives
Newham Museum Service, 2000. https://doi.org/10.5284/1000328. How to cite using this DOI
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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
Beckton Nursery (HE-BN 94)
Introduction
An archaeological evaluation was commissioned by London and Quadrant Housing Association at the site of the former Beckton Nursery, Newham Way, North Beckton, E6. This was in advance of the redevelopment of the site, planning application number N/93/42. The evaluation work took place between the 24th January, 1994 and the 12th March, 1994 by staff of Newham Museum Services (formally Passmore Edwards Museum). The archaeological deposits uncovered demanded further attention and a rescue excavation followed without break until 20th May, 1994. The evaluation was based on a project design, drawn up in reference to the project brief, the rescue phase was based on a further brief.
The site is located in an Archaeological Priority Zone that covers a wide band of alluvium that lies along the northern foreshore of the River Thames. These deposits consist of peat and clay horizons which overlie Thames floodplain gravels. They date from prehistoric to post-medieval periods and represent fluctuations in the level of the river. Periods of flooding have lead to the deposition of clay, while dryer conditions have lead to a marsh environment resulting in the formation of a substantial layer of peat. These waterlogged deposits can provide ideal conditions for the preservation of floral and faunal remains giving valuable information about the local environment on these marshes. In addition to this great environmental potential, waterlogged conditions have been proven to contain preserved archaeological timber structures.
Until recently, little was known about the archaeological potential of the Thames floodplain deposits, but excavations by Newham Museum Services have produced an unexpectedly high density and frequency of archaeological activity.
An excavation at Bridge Road, on Rainham marshes in 1989, uncovered a brushwood trackway and staked fence line within the peat. In 1993 an archaeological excavation in advance of the Evelyn Dennington Road housing development, east of, and adjacent to, the nursery redevelopment, discovered a north-south staked brushwood trackway in the peat deposits. Also in 1993 an archaeological investigation at Hays Storage Services Ltd., Pooles Lane, off Ripple Road, Dagenham, unearthed a north-south causeway, made from gravel and burnt flint, in the alluvium. More brushwood and stake constructions, working platforms and possible revetment were found in 1993 at Highbridge Road, Barking in the peat deposits associated with flood plains of the River Roding. An excavation of peat deposits at Fort Street, Silvertown, E16 by the Trust for Wessex Archaeology revealed a trackway constructed from substantial timbers. All the features on these sites have been provisionally dated to the middle Bronze Age (approximately 1500 to 1100 BC).
Historically, the site lies on the East Ham Levels, an area of over 1500 acres that were a defined in the 16th century. In the Medieval period, almost half of this land was in the control of the Abbeys of Stratford and Barking who took main responsibility for flood control. There are various records of flooding on the marshes in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries.
A brief search of the Greater London Sites and Monuments Record (GLSMR) shows that during the construction of the Northern Outfall Sewer in 1863, a Roman cemetary was found, (SMR 060210). This was on the gravel terrace, only two hundred meters north to the site on what is now Roman Road. Another interesting find from the GLSMR was a prehistoric flint arrowhead found on the allotments to the south west of the junction of Newham Way and Manor Way (SMR 061775).
