Hill, J. (1998). 40-66 Queen Victoria Street, London EC4, City of London. An Archaeolgocial Excavation.. MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology).

Title:

40-66 Queen Victoria Street, London EC4, City of London. An Archaeolgocial Excavation.

Number of Pages:

Biblio Note

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Publication Type:

Report

Abstract:

A controlled archaeological excavation (an area 3.27m by 2.1m max.) was undertaken during the demolition of the present building across the site, followed by a watching brief during the localised removal of the reinforced concrete slab of the existing double basement prior to the piling work for the new development. The excavation revealed a Victorian basement which was presumed to belong to one of the buildings constructed to flank Queen Victoria Street after it was laid out in 1869-1871. Below this basement a Victorian sewer or drain was found to have destrored all but 2m by 1.97m of the archaeology in the excavated area. Within the reduced area the internal floor of a timber and wattle and daub house whose construction pottery dated to around 80AD, or shortly before, as London started to expand again following the catastrophe of the Boudican rebellian This structure was sealed by a brickearth slab which almost certainly represented the reconstruction of the building though no structural features were extant within the area of the excavation. Pottery recovered from this indicated a date of 50-170AD. The top of the sequence was marked by a deposit of red fire-debris which the lack of in situ scorching suggested was redeposited. From the evidence of the stratigraphic sequence it was likely that this represented debris associated with the destruction of a Roman timber and wattle and daub building by fire in the first half of the second century, possibly in the so-called 'Hadrianic' fire of c125AD. Most of the Roman material was cut away by four intrusions, which all extended beyond the excavated area. These included a cut containing Roman pottery and fire debris, an undated pit, a refuse pit of probable Roman date and an undated refuse pit. The watching brief did not reveal any archaeological features as basementing had cut below the probable level of the lowest horizontal strata. [Au(adp)]

Author:

Julian Hill

Publisher:

MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology)

Year of Publication:

1998

Locations:

Location - Auto Detected:

Queen Victoria Street

Subjects / Periods:

VICTORIAN (Historic England Periods)
ROMAN (Historic England Periods)
Second Century (Auto Detected Temporal)

Note:

Date Of Issue From: 1998 Date Of Coverage From: 01 Date Of Coverage To: 01 Editorial Expansion: Site name: 40-66 QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, LONDON EC4
Study area:
Investigation type: Post-determination/Research
District: City of London
Monument: PIT. Roman (AD43-410), BASEMENT. Post-medieval (1540-1901), FEATURE. Undated, RUBBISH PIT. Undated, [finds]. Roman (AD43-410), BUILDING. Roman (AD43-410)
Ngr: TQ32478104
Parish:
Postcode: EC4V4DW

Source:

BIAB (Archaeological Investigations Project (AIP))

Created Date:

18 Jan 2009