Series: MoLAS Monograph

Report on a series of excavations along the south bank of the River Thames, upstream from London Bridge. The report deals with results pertaining to the Roman period at the site of Winchester Palace. Evidence from boreholes and excavations indicates that the river was much wider in the first century AD than at present, with at least two large islands in the area of modern north Southwark. These were fringed by extensive mudflats, mostly covered at high tide. The principle river crossing was just downstream from the modern London Bridge. Primary Roman activity recorded at the Winchester Palace site was located in a low-lying area immediately to the south of the early Roman waterfront. Initial land use included landscaping, drainage and the establishment of an area of gravel metalling aligned north-east/south-west, roughly parallel to the line of the bridgehead road to the east, that may have been part of a road. Clay and timber buildings dating to the AD 60s and 70s were established on a generally similar alignment. As Roman occupation intensified in the late-first century the riverfront was advanced to the north. Land reclamation behind an assumed timber revetment was achieved through the dumping of building debris, assisted by the natural accumulation of silts. The debris included building stone, tufa blocks, flue tiles from a hypocaust and painted wall plaster, decorative schemes on which were of exceptional richness and quality. Redevelopment south of the new waterfront included the establishment of a new metalled surface along a north-west/south-east alignment. To the west of this, a large masonry building with raised floors was associated with a smaller, circular building or structure at its eastern end. Clay and timber buildings lay along the east side of the metalling. The stone and tile buildings may have been used for storage; they are dated to c. AD 80--120, and the use of masonry at such an early date suggests a context of public importance. In the early-second century these buildings were superseded by others on a different alignment and larger plan, suggesting that land use over an extensive area was controlled by a single authority such as the provincial administration. The remains recovered suggest a range of palatial buildings fronting the river, including the caldarium of a large and opulent bathhouse. A suite of heated rooms to the east was notable for the quality of its internal decoration, suggesting high-status occupation. The building complex is interpreted as having had a military or administrative purpose. A third-century inscription recovered from the demolition debris of the bath suite lists a vexillation of legionary soldiers. The complex may have continued in use until the second half of the fourth century, but in a much reduced state, the bathhouse having been demolished in the late-third century. Includes French and German summaries; specialist reports include

Excavations on the site of one of Britain's largest medieval hospitals took place between 1982 and 1991. There is a `Preface' by Roberta Gilchrist (ii). Previous recording was undertaken during the 1930s. The fully integrated report is designed to achieve a greater understanding of the site's history through a combination of stratigraphic, documentary, finds, and environmental evidence. The cemetery associated with the first foundation (1197) was partially excavated; no buildings were revealed, although architectural fragments were found. A 57m length of Bishopsgate Street, dating to the first half of the thirteenth century lay along the western edge of the study area. The extensive refoundation in 1235 marked the beginning of a complete rebuilding of the priory and hospital. A stone infirmary and chapel at right angles to each other were constructed, and an associated cemetery laid out to the west; the population of this thirteenth-century cemetery has been analysed and is notable for the high numbers of adolescents contained within it. A new infirmary was built at the end of the thirteenth century, and the northern end of its predecessor was used as a chapel; burials, some in tombs, were excavated in this chapel. In the garden of the infirmary lay a large waterlogged pit containing ceramic, wooden, and leather artefacts. The monastic cloister was also built at the end of the thirteenth century and evidence of timber buildings, possibly for the lay sisters, was found. During the fourteenth century the infirmary was extended, a stable was constructed, stone buildings were built for the lay sisters and new drainage systems were laid out and latrines built. Tenements for wealthy residents were constructed during the latter years of the establishment's history. Seven thematic chapters address particular aspects of the hospital. There are separately authored specialist reports on: `The pottery' by Roy Stephenson with Paul Spoerry (184--6); `Moulded stone' by Mark Samuel with Christina de Domingo (186--95); `Ceramic building material' by Naomi Crowley (195--201); `Non-ceramic finds' by Geoff Egan (201--10); `The glass' by Bridget Brehm, John D Shepherd & Christopher Thomas (210--15); `The leather' by Alison Nailer (215--17); `Clay tobacco pipes' by Kieron Heard (217--18); `The human bone' by Janice Conheeney (218--31); `The animal bone' by Alan Pipe (231--4); `The fish bones' by Alison Locker (234); `The plant remains' by Anne Davis (234--45); `Insect fauna' by David Smith (245--7); `Parasite remains' by Clare de Rouffignac (247--8); `The eggshell' by Jane Sidell (248); and the `Conservation' by Dana Goodburn-Brown (248--9). There are summaries in French and German, a bibliography and list of abbreviations, and an index.

Archaeological, architectural and historical study of one of the largest complexes of buildings in the medieval City of London, of which two fragments survive above ground today. It is the fifth volume in a series on the monasteries of London, and is based on archaeological observations and excavations of 1908, 1953 and 1977--90, as well as on two plans of the main priory buildings drawn by John Symonds in c.1585, and antiquarian observations of 1790--1825 as parts of the priory were uncovered and demolished. A church had been established at the site by the late-eleventh century, and a cemetery found on several sites in the study area may have functioned with it or with the new priory church which was built in the first half of the twelfth century. A Lady chapel was constructed in 1197--1221, and a period of concerted rebuilding from the late-twelfth century to about 1350 is indicated. The cloister lay to the north of the church and the canons probably had a latrine or reredorter over the city ditch on the north site of the precinct, and a door through the city wall. Artefactual evidence from the priory is slight, but included pieces of silk from vestments, pottery, glass urinals, metalwork and items of leather and wood; there were also architectural fragments. Two areas of external cemetery were also excavated; no differentiation could be made, based on ceramic dating, between the groups of burials, and the whole cemetery is dated to a span beginning in the eleventh or twelfth century, with some burials probably continuing into the early-thirteenth century. It is probable that both burial areas included lay people. One mature man buried on the south side of the church had a silver pectoral cross on his shoulder. The skeletons presented a variety of osteological conditions consistent with their probable high status. Holy Trinity Priory was dissolved in 1532, and the site passed to Thomas Audley, who built a house by adapting the extensive priory buildings. After 1544 the precinct passed by his daughter to the Duke of Norfolk, and was sold to the City in 1592. By the 1560s the main house was skirted about within the former precinct by smaller houses and industrial premises. Documented among the latter in 1571 were those of Jacob Jansen, credited with introducing the manufacture of `delftware' pottery to London, and the area also attracted other potters; although their workshops have not been found, there are wasters from several sites around the former priory. In 1657 the Jews were officially allowed to return to England, and settled in the precinct and the adjacent parish of St Katherine Cree. A synagogue was built on the site of the prior's kitchen, adjacent to the grand house which seems to have gradually slipped into decay; it collapsed in 1822. The archaeology of the Jewish community is briefly considered. Reconstruction of the buildings forms a major element of the publication, and the pottery analysis links the phases of the site; there is a detailed discussion of the evidence for the earliest tin-glazed pottery production in London. The evidence brought together forms an assessment of the place of Holy Trinity Priory in the history of the Augustinian movement, in the history of London's monasteries and, as far as possible, in the development of Romanesque architecture in Britain. Includes French and German summaries, and separately authored reports on

John Baker's Thameside glasshouse in Vauxhall is the first of London's seventeenth-century glasshouses to be excavated. The publication describes the finds from the site, demonstrates how Vauxhall competed with London's other glasshouses and discusses London's late-seventeenth-century glass industry. The glasshouse opened some time between 1663 and 1681, and had closed by 1704; it was demolished by 1706. Excavations in 1989 found evidence for the manufacturing process in the form of a furnace, a fritting oven, frit, crucibles, tools, working waste and finished vessels. Although Baker's glasshouse was operating during the period when lead crystal was first being made in England, it produced vessels for a proven market: wine bottles, green-glass vessels and fine wares. The publication demonstrates how Baker's competed with London's other glasshouses to keep its place in the market. The nature of London's late-seventeenth-century glass industry is discussed, setting Baker's glasshouse in its historical context. The remains of a well-preserved mid-seventeenth-century bargehouse, constructed for the Clothworkers', Fishmongers' and Mercers' Companies, were also recorded at the site. Includes French and German summaries, and specialist reports on

Volume discussing finds from the late-fifteenth to late-seventeenth centuries. The mostly waterlogged riverside sites in Southwark from which the finds came lay within the boundaries of two adjacent medieval aristocratic properties: the Rosary and Fastolf Place; however, most of the items listed are everyday ones. The items catalogued include leather jerkins, gloves and a range of shoes; various base-metal accessories such as buckles, mounts, and hooked clasps; two lead/tin brooches, several plain buttons and other connectors; finger rings, pendants and wound-wire jewellery; beads of various materials; fragmentary purses; grooming tools such as combs, razors and a combination tool for the nails; structural fixtures and fittings, mainly ironwork though with a couple of gilded-lead leaf mounts; a moulded casket leg; a probable skeleton key; lighting and heating items such as firesteels and candle holders; a wide variety of knives; kitchen equipment and tableware such as cooking and serving vessels; glass drinking and storage vessels; a large number of spoons; a stylus, an armorial seal matrix and part of a leather book cover; a series of pewter whistles, miniatures and other children's playthings; wooden gaming pieces; pewter bird feeders; needles and thimbles; metalworking tools and waste, including partly made items and a very early ingot of antimony; leather- and woodworking tools; bone working waste, including panels possibly from rosary beads; antler offcuts; glass working waste, including one crystal piece; shipwrights' tools and fishing equipment; weights, including two for checking gold coins; coins (low value English specie and a few counterfeits, plus some Continental issues); a wide variety of unofficial tokens of lead/tin and an extensive series of copper-alloy jettons from the Continent; horse equipment, including several horseshoes and a virtually complete saddle; arms and armour, including daggers, parts of two swords, blade chapes, plate armour (including hand armour and part of a helmet), and chain mail; a priming mechanism for a musket and several pieces of shot; pilgrims' souvenirs, charting the cults favoured during the period covered; and political and other secular badges. A final chapter comprises and account of the metallurgical analyses undertaken, and a glossary of leather terms is included, along with French and German summaries. Separately authored reports include

Report on excavations in 1996 at the Royal Opera House, located on the north side of Covent Garden in the heart of what was the Middle Saxon settlement of Lundenwic. This settlement was a flourishing centre for trade and manufacture from the seventh to ninth centuries. This was the largest excavation yet undertaken in the area, providing information about the settlement, its inhabitants, their work and daily lives.The report describes a sequence of occupation, and considers more general themes such as the relationship of the Middle Saxon settlement to Roman Londinium, Saxon crafts and industry, the agricultural economy, trade, and demography. The discoveries included an eighth century street plan, specialized industrial buildings, rubbish and debris from a jewellery workshop, evidence of ironworking and a ninth-century defensive ditch with a hoard of Northumbrian stycas buried in its berm. The ditch was probably a response to Viking attack, but it failed to prevent the Viking occupation of Lundenwic in 871. The book also looks at the medieval and post-medieval development of the area, and includes brief specialist reports on the documentary sources, stone objects, quernstones, sedimentary sequences and pollen, daub, loom weights, ceramic building material, pottery, glass finds, iron objects, non-ferrous metalwork and metalworking, lead finds, the purse-hoard of Northumbrian stycas, Middle Saxon sceattas, Roman coins, slag, plant remains, worked bone and antler objects and waste, animal and fish bone, eggshell, oyster shells, cowrie shell and belemnite, parasite remains, human bone, archaeomagnetic dating, and radiocarbon dating. Also includes French and German summaries.

Presents the results of work from five separate developer-funded excavations between 1992--8. Bronze Age field ditches were sealed by domestic buildings relating to the expansion of early Roman London after AD 70, contemporary with the timber amphitheatre located nearby beneath the Guildhall. The masonry fort was built in the early-second century AD and there was no evidence of a long-suspected predecessor. The fort's buildings seem to have gone out of use around the end of the second century AD and its southern defensive ditch was backfilled. Extensive reoccupation came with the establishment of burgage plots after AD 1050. Twelfth-century development included buildings with cellars and evidence of bone- and metalworking. Birds of prey and high-quality pottery and glass imply the presence of a high-status person or property in the thirteenth century, but little survives from after this time. Includes specialist reports on building material; Roman, medieval and post-medieval pottery; x-ray fluorescence analysis of crucibles and other industrial waste; non-ceramic finds (including coins); glass; botanical remains; and animal bone. Also includes a glossary of Roman military terms, and French and German summaries.

Excavations at Baltic House uncovered a sequence which began with a Roman well, a large late-first-century defensive ditch and a second-century cellared building. Medieval finds dated from the tenth century onwards and later industrial activity included the manufacture of bells.

Report on a series of archaeological investigations conducted on the site of Sol Central, Marefair, Northampton between 1998 and 2002. The investigations included an evaluation, targeted excavation and watching briefs. Residual artefacts of prehistoric and Roman date were found but no features or deposits could be ascribed definitively to these periods. Possible middle Saxon settlement evidence at the site consisted of a single sunken-featured building. Activity intensified in the late Saxon to Norman period, with indications of metalworking, crop processing and bone working taking place at the site. A number of buildings suggest and expansion to the northeast of the main Saxon settlement around St Peter's church and a gradual spread towards the limits of the town. A cemetery was established in the southeast corner of the site during the tenth century. Seventy-two burials belonging to this cemetery, which was associated with the chapel of St Martin in the twelfth century, were excavated, including three double inhumations, one inhumation with a stone head support, and one juvenile prone burial. During the medieval period occupation of the area continued to develop, with further evidence for buildings discovered. Domestic and industrial activity also continued to intensify, as shown by pits and the presence of hearths and smithing debris. The cemetery continued in use until approximately the mid-thirteenth century. Masonry buildings were introduced after the Norman Conquest and a proliferation of small industries took place. By the fourteenth century the route of Pike Lane was established and property boundaries defined. The site exhibited evidence for metalworking, cereal processing, animal husbandry and butchery, and the presence of tanning on a small scale. The area declined during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and the majority of the site was covered in a cultivation soil. Documentary and cartographic evidence suggests that resettlement began again in the late medieval to early post-medieval period, but much of these deposits was truncated. Fragmentary evidence for post-medieval buildings was revealed. The redevelopment of some buildings along Marefair during this period may relate to the fire of 1675 which destroyed much of this area, although features were extensively truncated by the modern development of the site and by general site clearance. A watching brief to the west of Doddridge Street revealed thirty-nine eighteenth- to nineteenth-century burials associated with the cemetery of the chapel of Castle Hill. One of the bodies had been subjected to an autopsy before burial. To the south of the cemetery lay a post-medieval malting kiln and early-nineteenth-century buildings. Includes French and German summaries, and a CD-ROM containing appendices on the documentary sources; flint; ceramic building material; pottery; accessioned finds; slag; plant remains; animal bone; human bone; and radiocarbon dating.

Integrated report taking account of all strands of evidence for the development of the abbey of St Mary Stratford Langthorne, Essex, which was founded as a Savigniac house in 1135 and incorporated into the Cistercian Order in 1147; it was suppressed in 1538. Excavations on the site took place between 1973 and 1994. The report is presented in a series of period chapters. Little evidence was found for the monastery's origins, apart from a few very early burials, but it appears that it was established within a pre-existing field system. Limited archaeological evidence for pre-monastic timber buildings was found, and there are documentary indications of a late Saxon/early Norman manorial centre and associated church in the vicinity. The earliest monastic church identified was a simple, aisleless, cruciform structure of the mid-twelfth century. This was partially rebuilt and extended on at least two occasions, the last archaeologically defined building, dated to after c.1220, showing clear relaxation of early Cistercian austerity. To the east of the east claustral range a complex series of truncated footings illustrate parts of the great drain and the monks' infirmary/abbot's lodging area. After c.1350 there is some evidence of a dramatic decline the monastic population and the stagnation of the abbey's architectural development. Of the buildings of the inner and outer courts only one, a guesthouse, has been archaeologically identified with any certainty. A number of thematic essays address research aims, such as the plan of the precinct; the architecture and decoration of the monastery; the people of the monastery; burial customs and cemetery usage. There was a total burial population of 647 individuals, whose remains are analysed and interpreted. The issue of identifying the various elements of the precinct's population is also addressed, as is the conflicting evidence relating to medical care. The skeletal and other evidence is considered in the light of Cistercian and other medieval cemetery sites and known Cistercian legislation. A chapter on the monastery in its wider context looks at issues such as the degree to which St Mary Stratford was affected by its proximity to London, its role within the Cistercian order, evidence for the basis of the monastic economy, and a comparison of the finds assemblage with those of other religious houses. The effects of the Dissolution are discussed, and a critical look is taken at the research aims of the project, with suggested areas for future research. Includes French and German summaries. Separately authored reports include