| Abstract: |
Report on findings from two sites on the south side of Newgate Street, excavated in 1998. The sites lay to the east and west of the line of the later Roman defences, but both sites are located to the west of the early settlement boundary of Londinium as defined by the location of burials. The western arm of a natural stream channel, thought to have been a tributary of the River Fleet, was found at 3--9 Newgate Street. The earliest extant human activity consisted of gravel quarrying and a laying-out ditch; this may have been associated with the establishment in c. AD 50 of the main east--west road. The ditch was infilled and two adjacent timber buildings were constructed over it in c. AD 65--75. Two more phases of timber building followed before a localised fire at the end of the first century. One further phase of roadside timber building was apparently constructed before c. AD 120. At 16--17 Old Bailey the first- and early-second-century sequence was significantly different, with no evidence for buildings but traces of a cemetery. Only four inhumations and a possible cremation were recovered. Gravel quarrying was contemporary with or slightly later than the burials, with the quarry pits used for rubbish disposal. The area remained open throughout the second century. At 3--9 Newgate Street the final phase of roadside timber building was demolished to make way for a massive masonry foundation in c AD 140--60 or later; a parallel stone wall lay near the road frontage to the north of the masonry foundation, with which it may have been associated. Conjectured interpretations of the foundations include the proposal that they represent the southern end of a monumental arch or gateway spanning the road, as well as roadside shrines, towers or funerary monuments. The structure was apparently demolished during the late-third or early-fourth century. Also at 3--9 Newgate Street, a managed channel or ditch followed the course of the early stream; this was infilled during the second century prior to construction of the city defensive wall in c. AD 200. After this construction, activity at 16--17 Old Bailey declined dramatically; inside the wall, at 3--9 Newgate Street, a large third-century masonry building was built to the south of the infilled stream, some distance away from the main road. The area was apparently abandoned between the fifth and tenth centuries and the natural stream may have re-formed during this time and reverted to its original course. It was again infilled and levelled between the late-eleventh and thirteenth centuries, with the area subsequently used for rubbish pits. More early medieval rubbish pits were recorded at 16--17 Old Bailey, to the west of the medieval city walls, including some with chalk linings. Masonry buildings were established at 3--9 Newgate Street by the late-thirteenth century but only their chalk foundations have survived. Remains of masonry foundations on the southern part of the site may be related to a fourteenth-century building known as Warwick Inn. Post-medieval features were fragmentary. Includes French and German summaries, and separately authored contributions on |
