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.
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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
East Beckton District Centre (HE-KW 95)
Introduction
An archaeological evaluation was commissioned by the London Borough of Newham, in advance of the building of a community centre at Kingsford Way, Beckton. The work was undertaken to fulfil Planning Condition 15 imposed on planning application No. N/94/628. The work was conducted by Newham Museum Service field staff between the 20th September and the 4th October, 1995. The evaluation was based upon a project design, drawn up in response to a brief provided by Lawrence Pontin, English Heritage Planning Advisor for North East London.
The site is located within an Archaeological Priority Zone (A.P.Z) as defined by the London Borough of Newham's Unitary Development Plan, which covers a deeply stratified alluvial landscape lying along the northern foreshore of the river Thames. These deposits consist of peat and clay horizons which overlie Thames Flood Plain Gravels. The deposits date from the prehistoric to post-medieval periods and represent fluctuations in the level of the river. Transgression periods have resulted in flooding and the deposition of clays and silts, while regression periods, where lower water levels allowed the growth of plant communities, resulted in the formation of peat. These peat deposits have excellent preservation conditions for both floral and faunal remains (for example, pollen, trees and insects), which reflect environmental changes, as well as archaeological remains, such as timbers and leatherwork, which are protected by the water logged nature of the peat.
Until 1989, when an excavation at Bridge Road, Rainham, uncovered a Middle Bronze Age wooden trackway, very little was known about the prehistoric landscape of the north shore of the River Thames. Since then, Newham Museum Service has excavated numerous sites that have revealed significant archaeological features within the alluvial deposits.
The excavations at Bridge Road on the Rainham Marshes revealed a brushwood trackway and a staked fence line within the peat, an excavation at Evelyn Dennington Road, Beckton, revealed a peat sequence with a Bronze Age trackway and three Bronze Age trackways were found at Beckton Nursery, along with a possible fence line and several brushwood features. An excavation at Hays Storage Services Ltd, Dagenham, revealed a causeway constructed from gravel and burnt flint, further brushwood features and working platforms were found at Highbridge Road, Barking and an excavation at Silvertown by the Trust for Wessex Archaeology uncovered a trackway constructed from timbers.
Additionally, a Roman dug out canoe and pottery was found at Ham Creek, a natural harbour used as a 17th century naval base which is located approximately 350m south of the site.
