Series: Crossrail Archaeology Series

This report desribes the archaeological investigations at Charterhouse Square which was known to be the site of the West Smithfield cemetery, one of two London emergency burial grounds established during the Black Death (1348-9); the 25 individuals excavated are the first large group of burials recovered. The plague pathogen was identified in skeletons from each of three phases of burial, indicating that these were the victims of multiple plague outbreaks from the Black Death into the 15th century. Also located as it flowed west into the Fleet was the Faggeswell brook - the southern boundary of the plague cemetery and of the monastic precinct of the London Charterhouse, founded in 1371. This massive ditch had been filled in the mid 17th century with rubbish and waste from the livestock market and nearby households, some evidently wealthy.

This report explores the many historic railways encountered during the construction of Crossrail. Railways are more dynamic than people may suppose; over time stations are reconfigured, bridges replaced, tracks re-aligned. Sometimes, whole lines or tracts of land, particularly those associated with London's freight operations, fall into disuse. The designers of Crossrail, London's latest railway, actively sought these out for adaptation. At many of these places historic buildings were adapted or removed to accommodate the new railway; elsewhere the building of Crossrail has unearthed the archaeological remains of some of London's earliest railways. Buildings have much to tell us about the lives and livelihoods of others, and Crossrail ensured that any building or site of archaeological significance affected by the works was surveyed by their team of archaeologists. This book presents the results of those surveys in the form of a collection of essays, largely based on the chronology of railway development in the capital. Collected together, the chapters provide new aspects to the history of railways in London; details of the buildings and structures affected, from engine sheds to turntables, are provided in a gazetteer

This book describes the archaeological evidence from excavations at Crossrail's Broadgate ticket hall at Liverpool Street, from the Late Iron Age to the late Roman and early medieval marsh formation. The site lay 120m north of the town defences in a landscape dominated by a former tributary of the Walbrook stream, which ran along the west edge of the site. The earliest Roman activity focused on draining the site sufficiently to allow burial and road building in the area. Extensive remains of an early 2nd- to 3rd-century AD west–east metalled road with two main phases were traced across the site, along with a series of roadside ditches. The road ran west from Ermine Street, and evidence for horse transport and pasture suggests that it may have led to the fort in the north-west corner of Londinium. To the south of the road, seven 2nd-century AD inhumations, including three decapitations, and one cremation burial formed part of a cemetery in this waterlogged area. The large assemblage of accompanying disarticulated human bone, like earlier such finds, remains one of the most intriguing aspects of the Walbrook valley.

This report discusses how much of Crossrail, London's latest railway, lies hidden beneath its streets. It is visible only where new stations have appeared and tunnel entrances formed. At many of these places existing buildings have had to be adapted or removed to accommodate the new railway. Buildings have much to tell us about the lives and livelihoods of others, and Crossrail ensured that any building affected by the works was surveyed by their team of archaeologists before any work began. This book considers what the buildings and structures examined in this way have told us about the changing face of London. Each chapter takes as its theme buildings that shared common functions or characteristics, such as the offices that lay in the way of the capital's new stations or the former industrial buildings that clustered around the railway's new tunnel portals. The background to each theme is set out before specific buildings are described and interpreted. Details of the buildings and structures, from pubs to power stations, appear in the gazetteer at the rear of the book.

This report presents the archaeological investigations of the Thames iron works and shipbuilding Company which was one of the great private enterprises of the Victorian age. It launched several of the most famous warships of the time from its slipways at the mouth of the river Lea. One of the pioneers of shipbuilding in iron, the company flourished in the mid 19th century: the yard built ships not just for the royal navy but for other foreign powers seeking to furnish their navies with the super-weapons of that age. their expertise in iron construction was also deployed in ground-breaking civil engineering projects - several still in use - from Anglesey to Asia. Recent archaeological excavations at the launch-site of Crossrail tunnelling machines on the Limmo Peninsula afforded a glimpse of this vanished industry. several important components of the yard were investigated, including engineering workshops, a furnace, a mast house and mould loft building, and a slipway. an account of the development of the Thames iron works places it within the wider context of London's 19th-century shipbuilding industry.