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
Stratford Broadway Office Village (ST-BR 82)
[File last modified 17th March 1997]
Site Location TQ 3950 8490
The site lies at the on the frontage of Romford Road near its junction with Stratford Broadway. It lies to the east of the later excavation at 30 Romford Road (W-RR 86).
Reason for Excavation
Standard Securities were proposing to develop a substantial area of land near the centre of old Stratford. The only previous work in the vicinity had been the observance and recording of service trenches cutting the London - Colchester Roman road and post-medieval rubbish pits exposed by road widening in The Green and The Broadway in 1965. The aim was to establish the actual line of the Roman road and to investigate the post-medieval development in the area referred to by Daniel Defoe in A tour through the Whole Island of Great Britain 1724-6 Vol 1 (1724) and shown on Rocque's map of 1741-6.
This was the first portion of the site to be developed. Further excavation work was done in 1986 at 30 Romford Road (W-RR 86). Test pits were also observed on other parts of the site, in particular the south-eastern area, but truncation from basements had removed any archaeological deposits. The Roman road was again revealed and recorded in Stratford Broadway during drainage works in 1995.
The Excavation
The excavation took place in December 1982. It soon became clear that changes in the road frontage in the later 19th century at that point along the road had destroyed or sealed the main house structures beneath the modern pavement. This meant that for the 18th century buildings/deposits, only rear extensions and back yards were recorded. However, beneath these was found evidence for what has been interpreted as a 'village pond.' The slightly curving edge fell away sharply towards the road. The fill was a waterlogged silt containing a substantial deposit of late 16th/ early 17th century pottery. Because of the space constraints it was not possible to come to any conclusion regarding the size or depth of the pond. At some time during the 17th C a thick clay capping was used to seal the pond prior to the construction of the houses. It should be noted that there is evidence for a spring line running along Romford Road where wells are prevalent. This would suggest that this is probably a natural, rather than an artificial pond.
Near to the pond at the southern end of the excavated area were four irregularly- shaped pits which seem to have been used for some agricultural or minor industrial purpose; they are of 16th C date. There was also of probable 17th C date an area where a regular pattern of spade marks were recorded beneath a loose agricultural soil. This may well be related to market gardening, an activity well documented in the area in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Clearly we have no indication of the antiquity of this pond and whether it might have influenced the line of the Roman road at this point. The modern road line must have been established and the pond sealed by the time that 30 Romford Road was built c. 1690/1720.
Resistivity Survey
As part of this exercise the North East London Polytechnic undertook a resistivity survey to try to establish the line of the Roman road. This failed to produce a useful result, although (from the evidence of the W-RR 86 excavation) some of the traverses would have clearly been across the road line. However, the land had been intensively used for light industrial purposes during the 19th C and the depth of concrete flooring may well have masked the evidence.
Finds
These have been sorted but no analytical work has been done.
MacGowan, K. (1997) Stratford Broadway Office Village (ST-BR 82). Retrieved 5 May, 2024 from URL /home/redsquid/archives/view/newham/stbr82/stbr82.cfm
