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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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
Langthorne Hospital, Leyton (LE-LH 95)
Introduction
Newham Museum Service was commissioned by the Museum of London Archaeology Service, on behalf of Forest Healthcare Trust, to undertake an evaluation on the site of the proposed Claybury Reprovision - South Acute (Langthorne) in the north-western area of the Langthorne Hospital complex, Leytonstone, in the London Borough of Waltham Forest (see figure 1). The work was required in order to fulfil Condition 14 of Planning Application No. 95/0010, and carried out according to a project design produced to fulfil the English Heritage brief. The fieldwork began on 7/8/95 and ended on 10/8/95.
The site lies between two Archaeological Priority Areas, as defined by the London Borough of Waltham Forest Unitary Development Plan (L.B.W.F. 1992), centred on Thorne Close to the south and Cathall Road to the north, and is located on one of the gravel terraces of the River Thames (Taplow gravels). An archaeological excavation immediately to the south of the site in Thorne Close revealed evidence for human activity dating from the 10th century to the 17th century, while an excavation to the north of the hospital revealed no archaeological features older than the 18th century. The Greater London Sites and Monuments Record shows a scatter of Roman and prehistoric (particularly palaeolithic flint implements) material in the Leyton/Leytonstone area.
The site appears to have been farmland in the 18th century until 1840, when the West Ham Union Workhouse was built. This establishment was progressively enlarged and became part of the National Health Service in 1946, when it was renamed Langthorne Hospital.
