Inventory of Roman London: Structures within the walls

An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in London, Volume 3, Roman London. Originally published by His Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1928.

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'Inventory of Roman London: Structures within the walls', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in London, Volume 3, Roman London, (London, 1928) pp. 106-145. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/london/vol3/pp106-145 [accessed 24 March 2024]

(B) Structures Within the Walls.

In the following inventory, which is based upon that in the Victoria County History (1909), checked, amplified and added to from subsequent information, only those remains are included which represent Roman structures found in situ. References to non-structural finds are only mentioned in this section when they have a direct bearing upon the date or character of the site. The reference numbers to Plan A show, where possible, the position of each item on the large plan at the end of the volume.

Fig. 29.

Abchurch Lane. A note on a City Sewers Plan of 1855 (III, 69) records the discovery of 36 ft. length of wall (Plan A 92) of rag-stone, chalk and flints, in the S. part of the lane N. of King William Street. The sewer was cut through the wall.

Bank of England. A pavement (Plate 47), now in the British Museum, was found in 1805 "under the S.W. (should read N.W.) angle of the building, 20 ft. W. of the W. gate of the Bank (Plan A 69) opening into Lothbury, and the same distance S. of the carriageway, and 11 or 12 ft. below the street." It measured, in all, 11 ft. square, the central portion being 4 ft. square, and having a pattern of four acanthus leaves in a circle in red, black and grey, on a white field. The edges of the pavement were said to have shown traces of fire [Arch., XXXIX, 491 ff.; Gent. Mag., 1807, I, 415; Soc. Antiq. MS. Min. XXXI, 63; a coloured drawing of this pavement is preserved in Bod. Lib. Gough MSS., Map 19, 11]. Other pavements are recorded by Kelsey, covering the area between Princes Street, Lothbury, and Bartholomew Lane [Kelsey, Descr. of Sewers, 258]. A supposed Roman bust was found in digging foundations of the Bank (1733) [Soc. Antiq. MS. Min. II, 14].

In 1926, a well (Plan A 71) lined with barrelstaves was found, immediately under the doorway from the old Rotunda to the Shutting. One stave (Plate 38) bore a stamped inscription (Inscriptions, No. 52). The associated pottery indicated a date of c. 100 [Antiq. Journ., VI. 186].

In July, 1927, a Roman concrete floor, (Plan A 70), about 3 in. thick with a pounded tile surface and of indeterminate extent, was cut through; it was about 12½ ft. below the pavement-level of Lothbury, and lay below the courtyard a little W. of the old main entrance from that street. A portion of another floor at a slightly lower level was found a few feet to the S.E. Some 10 ft. farther E. a second pavement of concrete (Fig. 29), 4 in. thick, was found resting almost immediately on the undisturbed clay and about 8 ft. below the first pavement. It was bounded on the N. by a double timber-framed structure (? wall or conduit) consisting of two framings 2½ ft. apart, and composed of 6-in. by 4-in. sills with boarding applied on each side, though only the boarding in the inner side remained in each case; the space between the boarding was packed with clay. The interval between the two framings was filled with building rubbish, broken bricks, tiles, wall-plaster, etc., lying on black earth. Lying on the original floor in a layer of clay 8 in. thick were the fallen timbers perhaps of a roof. Above this level there were traces of two subsequent habitationlevels. The ground to the N. of the timber structure was evidently outside the building. Between the levels of the upper and lower pavements were found numerous fragments of leather and 1st-century pottery, including graphite-coated ware, Samian with the stamps MOM, JVCUND, OF VITA. ., MEMORIS M, etc., and little or nothing of later date [R.E.M.W. and A.C.].

Bartholomew Lane. A portion of a tessellated pavement in Bartholomew Lane (Plan A 72) was found in 1841 (probably when the church of St. Bartholomew was being destroyed), of which "a large piece was preserved by the city authorities, but it is not known where" [Arch., XXIX, 155]. Another account says: "A piece of tessellated pavement, consisting of a scroll of ivy-leaves in black upon a white ground, was found in a deserted cellar in Bartholomew Lane, but evidently not in situ" [Tite, Cat. Antiq. Roy. Exch., XXXI].

Billingsgate (Plan A 21). Quantities of piling were discovered about 1843, and taken by Price as evidence of a bridge at this point (towards Botolph Wharf), E. of the present London Bridge, where also, he thought, was the harbour or landing-place, as the existence of a gate implies [see J. E. Price, Rom. Antiq. Nat. Safe Deposit Co.'s Premises, 18].

Birchin Lane (Plan A 86). In 1786, an anonymous letter to Mr. Gough mentions the discovery of walls, etc., in digging for a sewer (Fig. 46). Opposite the houses Nos. 15 and 13, on the E. side of the sewer and near No. 12 on the W. side, and at the N. end of the lane on the W. side of the sewer, were walls of the same materials as that near the Post Office in Lombard Street (i.e. of rubble with brick bonding-courses). Opposite No. 14 was a pavement of coarse tesserae about 5 ft. long, sloping northwards. Opposite No. 11 were large fragments of figured tessellated pavement of various colours. Opposite No. 2 at a depth of 14 ft. was a pavement of chalk stones. Opposite No. 1 a wall crossed the sewer, and near the W. corner of the lane was a wall on the W. side of the sewer. At the N.W. corner of the lane was seen a corner of a pavement with a border of black, white, red and green tesserae [Arch., VIII, 119, with plan; Soc. Antiq. MS. Min., 72, 79, 92]. Fragments of wall-decoration in painted stucco were also recorded. E. B. Price says: "It is probable that some analogous fragments found in this locality within the last few years are portions of the same floor. They comprise portions of borderings with fanciful and complex patterns, and are in the Guildhall Museum." In 1857, part of another pavement representing a sea-horse was uncovered; this is probably the panel now in the Guildhall Museum [Arch. Rev., I, 274; Lond. and Midd. Arch. Soc. Proc. E.M., 1861, 33], and in 1846, walls running across Birchin Lane and Finch Lane (Plan A 84) and into Cornhill and Lombard Street, with tessellated pavements and remains, and a head sculptured in freestone were brought to light [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., II, 205].

Bishopsgate Street Within. In Bishopsgate Street, a short time before 1833, a gravel roadway was found at a depth of 20 ft., from which were thrown up fragments of amphorae, etc. [Gent. Mag. (1833), II, 423].

A tessellated pavement (Fig. 30) was discovered in October, 1839, beneath the cellar of No. 101 (Plan A 54); it lay 53 ft. from the street and 15 ft. from Excise Yard, and was 13 ft. deep from streetlevel. In the same cellar, "a few years since," stood an arch contiguous to the street, formed of square flat tiles. The pavement was covered over with bricks to preserve it; the portion uncovered was of black and white tesserae in squares and diamonds. It probably formed part of the same building as that found on the site of the Excise Office (see Broad Street) [Arch., XXIX, 155, pl. 17, figs. 1, 2; Illus. Rom. Lond., pl. 8, fig. 1, p. 55; Morgan, Rom. Brit. Mosaic Pavements. 182]. In 1873, a pavement was discovered at a depth of 7 ft. on the same side of the street; it had guilloche and trefoil patterns in red, white and black. Part only was exposed (and subsequently covered in); it must have extended beneath the roadway [Illus. Lond. News, 19th July, 2nd August, 1873]. In 1875 another similar pavement was found, on the W. side of the street, opposite Crosby Hall, (Plan A 55) under a building for Gordon and Co. The pavement was 4 yards square, 15 ft. below the pavement, and about 50 ft. W. of the street [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., XXXIII, 106]. In 1895, red mosaic pavement was found at Anthony Gibbs' counting-house at No. 15, Bishopsgate Street (Plan A 58). The part seen was about 6 ft. long by 2 ft. wide, extending northwards under the wall of the house. The depth was 16 to 17 ft. below the yard [Proc. Soc. Antiq., XVI, 36]. In the Guildhall is a pavement [Cat. 7], probably one of the above.

Fig. 30. Mosaic pavement under 101 Bishopsgate Street. From Archæologia, XXIX.

In 1908, a pavement of plain red tesserae was found on the site of the public house, immediately at the back of Nos. 31 and 33 Bishopsgate Street and in Gresham House Court (Plan A 56). This pavement must have closely adjoined that found in 1839 under No. 101 (now No. 35) [Arch., LXIII, 319].

Bread St. Hill. At the lower end of Bread St. Hill, near Thames Street (Plan A 164), two walls, crossing the street, are indicated on a City Sewers Plan of 1845 [I, 139]. The same plan shows a mass of masonry (Plan A 162) at the junction with Knightrider Street (now under Queen Victoria Street). An engraving showing a Roman wall, apparently running parallel to the sewer, was published in the Illustrated London News, July 20th, 1844.

Broad Street (Old). Previous to 1805 were found "foundations and remains of pavements . . . within these few years, behind the old Navy Pay Office in Broad Street." They are said to have been about 7 ft. deep [Gent. Mag. (1807), I, 415–7]. The principal find near Broad Street has been the tessellated pavement (Plan A 57) unearthed in February, 1854, under the vaults of the S.E. part of the old Excise Office, on the E. side of the street. On approaching Bishopsgate Street, arched vaults with flat arches beneath were found 12 or 13 ft. below the street level, and under them a bed of coarse concrete, beneath which the first Roman remains appeared (fragments of pottery, glass, mortar, concrete, wall-plaster and coins), and finally the pavement. It was laid on a bed of hard cement with coarse concrete below resting on the natural soil, and formed the floor of a room 28 ft. square; it had been unsuccessfully mended in parts. "Northwards of this pavement we have found the floor of a room paved with dark red tesserae. The pavement was about 12 ft. square and the tesserae 17 in. square" (sic). It was noted that the site was lower than the Roman level in Bishopsgate Street. The design of the first pavement (Plates 39 and 48) has a central panel with a Bacchante on a panther; the other compartments are formed by stars of intersecting guilloches, inclosing various devices, and divided by lozenge patterns; there is an outer border of lotus flowers. The pavement was removed to the Crystal Palace [Arch., XXXVI, 203 ff., pls. 18, 19; Illus. Rom. Lond., pl. 7, p. 54]. Another pavement was found in 1792, when making a sewer from St. Peter-le-Poer to Threadneedle Street (sic) (Plan A59) behind the old Navy Pay Office (Winchester House); it was circular in form, and a quantity of burnt corn and charcoal, with pottery and plated coins, lay upon it [Arch., XXXIX, 493; Coll. Antiq., III, 257]. A mosaic with a female head of life size, of glass and coloured stones is also reported [Illus. Rom. Lond., 56].

Fig. 31. Drain near Bucklersbury. From Roman Tessellated Pavement in Bucklersbury, J. E. Price.

Bucklersbury. A fine pavement was found in the line of the present Queen Victoria Street (Plan A 125) in May, 1869, and is now in the Guildhall. It was 19 ft. below street-level, parallel with the stream and a very short distance from Walbrook, and forms a parallelogram, 13 ft. by 12½ ft., with a semi-circular addition 7¼ ft. long at the N. end; the foundations of the inclosing walls (Plate 41) were of tile with blocks of chalk and rag-stone, on a chalk foundation, laid on square piles, 3 to 4 ft. long. There were indications of herring-bone brickwork, and a neatly turned plaster moulding running round the building. In the walls at three places were vertical flues. Fragments of stucco, painted red and blue, were also found, and round the semi-circular part were vertical flues; below was a hypocaust with rows of flanged tiles supporting the concrete. At the N.E. corner was a drain formed of semi-circular roof-tiles 7 in. across. This pavement (Plate 42), considered to be the most perfect, and by some the finest, found in London, has a border of guilloche inclosing interlacing squares, one in colours, the other in white and black, with floral ornaments in the centre. Above is a floral scroll, and round the semicircle a guilloche inclosing a scale-pattern formed in parti-coloured rays. Round the whole are plain borders of red, white, and yellow tesserae. It is probably of fairly early date, about the time of Hadrian. At the S.E. end was a small portico 5 ft.5½ in. by 4 ft. evidently a doorway, paved with red tesserae and surrounded by a timber frame, to the right of which ran a passage floored with concrete parallel with the floor; part of a wooden paling adjoining seems to suggest a veranda facing the Walbrook. At a distance of 90 ft. from the pavement in a westerly direction, at a depth of 17½ ft. from the surface of Bucklersbury, two Roman walls (Fig. 31) were cut through, nearly in a line with Bucklersbury, towards Walbrook. The foundation was of wooden piles driven into the clay, and on these rest blocks of chalk. On this again were two well-built walls of brick 2¾ ft. thick and 2¼ ft. apart; in this space surrounded with chalk blocks was a drain of ordinary flue-tiles, laid to fall towards the brook. Over this was a tiled pavement with a small fillet or skirting of mortar against the walls. Over this were later walls, probably mediæval. J. E. Price also mentioned a well or cesspool, 16 ft. S.W. from the pavement, about 4 ft. in diameter; it was not cleared to the bottom. It was formed of hewn blocks of chalk, the upper part probably later, and was thought to be a Roman latrine [J. E. Price, Descr. of Rom. Tessel. Pavement in Bucklersbury, 1870 (illustrated); Guildhall Mus. Cat., p. 72, pl. 55].

Budge Row (Plan A 123). Mr. Gunston stated that in January, 1853, he descended into an excavation made for a new sewer, and at a depth of 15 ft. distinctly traced the remains of a Roman wall constructed of rubble, layers of tile, and concrete [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, IX, 84; see under Cannon Street].

Fig. 32.

Bush Lane. After the Great Fire some labourers, digging foundations of houses in Scots Yard, found at 20 ft. deep, "a Tessellated Pavement, with the Remains of a large Building or Hall," supposed at the time to indicate respectively the Roman governor's palace and the Basilica. Four holes full of charred wood were supposed to have been for piles, and as the substructure of the pavement was composed of artificial earth containing bricks and broken glass, it was thought that the building was destroyed by Boudicca [Wren, Parentalia, 265; Stow, Survey (ed. Strype), II, App. V, 23; Morgan, Rom. Brit. Mosaic Pavements, 176; Maitland, Hist, of Lond., I, 17; Soc. Antiq. MS. Min. VIII, 25a]. Bagford, writing in 1714, said that part of the pavement ("of Cæsar's tent") was in the museum of the Royal Society [Leland, Coll. (ed. Hearne), I, 60]. In 1840–1, at the lower end of the lane (Plan A 109), was found a wall of rag-stone and tiles, running 50 ft. northwards until met by a similar transverse wall. Fragments of pottery and frescoes, tiles and bricks, were found. Advancing up the lane, walls of considerable thickness crossed (only one of these shown on sewer-plan and figured 10 ft. thick), much fresco, pieces of tessellated pavement, tiles, but "opposite Scots Yard (Plan A 110) a formidable wall of extraordinary thickness, was found to cross the street diagonally; it measured in width 20 ft. (figured 22 ft. on sewer-plan); it was built of flints and rag with occasional masses of tiles. On the N. side, however, there was such a preponderance of flints, and on the S. such a marked excess of rag-stone," as to indicate two dates; it was very hard and had to be drilled; the depth of excavation was 15 ft. and top of wall 6 ft. below pavement-level; adjoining the N. side of the wall, "and running absolutely upon it was a pavement of white tesserae, together with a flooring of lime and pounded tiles, supporting the tiles of a hypocaust in rows of about one dozen 2 ft. apart"; with these were several flue tiles adapted as pillars. The remaining portion of Bush Lane was intersected by the walls of houses as far as Cannon St., the last met with, running under the pavement of that street. These five walls are figured on the sewer-plan (Fig. 32) as (from S. to N.) 10 ft. 7 in., 3 ft., 3 ft., 3½ ft. and 4 ft. thick respectively. In Scot's Yard opposite the great wall (Plan A 111), at depth of 8 ft. was another wall 8 ft thick (figured 6 ft. thick on sewer-plan) of "oblong tiles" and mortar. It descended to a depth of 13 ft., where alongside were pavements of lime and gravel. One of the tiles found, a hollow cube in form, is now in the British Museum [Arch., XXIX, 156, 402; Soc. Antiq. MS. Min. XXXVIII, 152; City Sewers Plan, Guildhall, I, 116]. Roach Smith thought that these massive. substructures indicated a south-eastern boundary wall with a flanking tower. Another wall, about 200 ft. in length, 10 ft. high and 12 ft. thick, was discovered in the excavations for Cannon Street Railway Station; this inclosed foundations supporting smaller walls, 3 ft. wide, composed principally of tiles, connected by similar cross walls [Lond. and Midd. Arch. Soc. Trans., III, 213; see also Cannon Street Station and Thames Street, Upper]. The evidence here, as in most cases, is very vague, but that there must have been an extensive building or series of buildings in this locality seems clear.

In Little Bush Lane (Plan A 112) to the S. a wall of tile and rag was found in 1846, extending across the street, also the base of a column [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., II, 341]; and in Chequers Court on the W. (now covered by Cannon Street Station) two fragments of tiles were discovered in 1841, one inscribed P.BR.BII, the other BR. [Arch., XXIX, 157; Illus. Rom. Lond., 114; Corp. Inscr. Latin, VII, 1255; both tiles now in British Museum].

In 1910, a wall of rubble, about 9 ft. thick and 8 ft. high was found at No. 10 Bush Lane (Plan A 113), "filling the N.W. corner of the site, which it crossed diagonally, continuing under the roadway in one direction, and passing under the adjoining buildings in the other" [Arch., LXIII, 319]. This wall closely adjoined the southernmost wall shown on the sewers plan of 1840.

Camomile Street. In April, 1707, "upon the pulling down some old houses adjoining to Bishops Gate in Camomile St. (Plan A 51) in order to the building there anew and digging to make cellars about 4 ft. under ground, was discovered a pavement consisting of diced bricks. . . . The extent of the pavement in length was uncertain, it running from Bishops Gate for 60 ft. quite under the foundations of some houses not yet pulled down. Its breadth was about 10 ft. terminating on that side at the distance of three foot and a half from the city-wall." The colours of the tesserae were red, black and yellow. Under the pavement were 2 ft. of rubbish and then a stratum of clay in which, at a depth of 2 ft. more, were several urns of various sizes and containing bones; with them were found various objects and a coin of Antoninus Pius [Woodward's Letter to Wren, 12–14; hence Gent. Mag. (1807), I, 415].

Cannon Street (including the former Distaff Lane, Little Friday Street, Basing Lane and Little St. Thomas Apostle). Set in a stone case in the front S. wall of St. Swithin's Church is the large rounded block of stone known as London Stone. It stood formerly on the S. side of the street (Plan A 114) "near to the channel," says Stow, pitched upright, fixed in the ground very deep and fastened with bars of iron. In building operations, after the Great Fire, it was found to have a large foundation, and "in the adjoining ground on the S. side (upon digging for cellars . . .) were discovered some tessellated pavements, and other extensive remains of Roman workmanship and buildings." In 1742, the stone was moved to the N. side of the street, and re-set close to the wall near the S.W. door of St. Swithin's church. It was again moved in 1798. Its original position is recorded on Strype's plan of Walbrook Ward. The block is now quite formless, and there is no evidence of its original use. Camden considered it to have been a Roman milestone, but as Stow says: "the cause why this stone was set there, the time when, or other memory hereof is none" [Stow, Survey (ed. Kingsford) I, 224; Ibid. (ed. Strype), II, 119; Wren, Parentalia, 265–6].

Strype says: "In Canning Street nigh Bush Lane (Plan 115) was found pretty deep in the Earth, a large pavement of Roman mosaic work." Dr. Hook gave a piece of it to the Repository in Gresham College [Stow, Survey (ed. Strype), II, App. V, 23].

During drainage work in 1845, along the line of this thoroughfare, in the western part, formerly known as Basing Lane (Plan A 153), "portions of immense walls with occasional layers of bondtiles and in some cases (as at Great Trinity Lane) exhibiting the remains of fresco paintings, afforded frequent evidence of the massive and important character of the edifices which anciently occupied this site" [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., I, 254]. A City Sewers Plan [I, 139] of this period marks the position of walls (Fig. 43) found in Little Friday Street (Plan A 155). In the eastern part, at the crossing of Queen Street (Plan A 157), fragments of a tessellated pavement in black and white, were found in 1850 [Proc. Soc. Antiq. (Ser. I), II, 93]. In 1852, a portion of a pavement (Plan A 156) composed of red tesserae, without any pattern, was found in Cannon Street a little E. of Basing Lane [Arch. Journ., IX. 297].

In the Spring of 1852, in New Cannon Street, on the removal of houses just demolished, on the S. side of Watling Street near Walbrook, (Plan A 122), fragments of the Tower Royal were found and below them, at a depth of 12 ft., Roman walls, 3 ft. thick, built of rag, chalk and tiles, on a foundation of wooden piles; a little to the W. was 20 ft. of plain tessellated pavement (in red tesserae). At 60 ft. due N. from the frontage, stood three piers, 6 ft. apart formed of the ordinary tiles, 14½ in. by 11 in. [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, X, 190 ff.; Illus. Lond. News, 1852, I, 308]. In 1854, in New Cannon Street, 20 ft. from the frontage, a thick Roman wall of rubble and layers of red and yellow tiles were found at what is now the crossing of Queen Victoria Street, near which was a concrete floor of lime, sand, and broken tiles [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., X, 111. Section of earlier excavations given in Jewitt's Reliquary 1st S., IV, 49].

In 1877 another pavement was found on the N. side of Cannon Street, two or three doors W. of the junction with Bow Lane (Plan A 153), in digging for new buildings. It was of white and black tesserae with a border of red and was 12 ft. below the street-level. A few walls of chalk were also encountered [Journ Brit. Arch. Assoc., XXXVIII, 260].

A small Roman bath (Plan A 154) was discovered in 1906 (Fig. 33) on the site of the Fire Brigade station [Arch., LX, 214 (Plan)].

In March, 1926, the base-stone (Plate 20) of a gable was found at a depth of 15 ft. under the N. side of the roadway a few feet to the W. of Bread Street [Q.W.].

Fig. 33. Bath in Cannon Street. From Archæologia, LX.

Cannon Street Station. A note on a City Sewers Plan of June, 1850 [II, 123], reads:— "While excavating for sewer in Turnwheel Lane (Plan A 116) we met with an old wall, running across the lane as shown on (accompanying) plan, with Kentish rag and chalk, 6 ft. from the surface to the top of the wall and 5 ft. thick. At 11 ft. from the surface and close against the face of the wall lay a piece of oak timber in a horizontal position, 14 in. by 12 in., quite black but sound." The site is now covered by Cannon Street Station.

During the excavations for Cannon Street Railway Station (Plan A 117) in 1868 were brought to light remains of buildings which are described as follows:—"The numerous piles and transverse beams which extended across Thames Street were traced to a considerable distance along the river bank, and in an upward direction towards Cannon Street. So complete a network of timber did they form, and so massive and durable were the means employed for holding the entire fabric together, that it is evident it was intended to resist a heavy strain or pressure. The Walbrook here flowed into the Thames, and the drainage of the old city being on a different scale to what it now is, it is probable that the soil of the locality would be damp and yielding, and that some protection for the foundations of the buildings reared along the water line would be necessary against the inroads of the river. Above this embankment buildings of great magnitude must have existed, if we may judge from the strength and solidity of these foundations. Running nearly in a line with Bush Lane was an immense external wall, some 200 ft. long, 10 ft. high, and 12 ft. in thickness, formed of rag-stone, chalk, and a variety of materials bound together with mortar in the ordinary Roman fashion. At an angle were foundations 8 ft. wide of flint and rubble supporting smaller walls, some 3 ft. wide, composed principally of bonding tiles 18 in. by 12 in. These were connected by a series of cross walls 2 ft. 6 in. thick, and built of flat tiles 14 in. by 11 in., also set on rubble footings 4 ft. in width. Still nearer Cannon Street were the remains of an apartment 50 ft. by 40 ft., floored with a coarse red concrete; this was connected with a second, which had access to a third but smaller room. A long series of smaller apartments were satisfactorily traced, with floors of coarse tesserae of red and yellow brick in cubes about an inch square. Some little distance in front of the centre apartment in this series was a square piece of paving comprised of oblong bricks on edge, known as 'herring-bone pavement.' Adjoining a thick rubble wall was a large portion of a mosaic pavement, comprised of half-inch cubes of black, white, red and grey tesserae, worked into a simple pattern and surrounded by a double border of black and grey stones of a compact nature and from 4 to 6 in. square, but varying in thickness. In close proximity to this human remains were found. There were evidences of strong timber drains, or waterways, one 5 ft. beneath the foundations of the building, and having a steep incline to the river. This measured 4 ft. across, and was 18 in. deep, the boards forming the sides being 4 in., and those at the bottom 6 in. in thickness. The other channels were of smaller dimensions. Within several of the rooms wall paintings remained, the designs in various colours: some divided by lines and bands into panels, others ornamented by a trellis-pattern, or powdering of fancy-coloured spots; besides a quantity of roofing, hypocaust, and building tiles, fragments of pottery, glass and articles of personal and domestic use. On many of the tiles were the letters PP. BR. LON" [Lond. and Midi. Arch. Soc., III, 212].

Carter Lane. A few years before 1909, during the rebuilding of No. 56 Carter Lane (Plan A 172) a wall was found, 8 ft. thick and of rag-stone with layers of tiles running diagonally across the site from N.W. to S.E. [V.C.H. London, I, 1909, 69].

Cheapside. Bagford, writing in 1714–15, mentions a pavement found at a depth of 15 ft., about a hundred years previously [Leland, Coll. (2nd ed. Hearne), I, 74]. At the entrance to Bread Street (Plan A 147), 12 ft. from the surface, a chalk wall crossed Cheapside diagonally towards Wood Street and apparently entered that street [Arch., XXVII, 150 (1838)]. In 1861, part of a pavement was found, at a depth of 14 ft., opposite Bow Church, with a border of red and white tesserae [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., XVII, 328]. In the Guildhall Museum is part of a pavement [Cat., p. 72, No. 3], perhaps the one found in 1861.

Clement's Lane (Plan A 99). In digging for sewers in 1841, walls were found crossing the street at 12 ft. to 15 ft. depth, 3 ft. in thickness, and composed of flints, rubble, and tiles, also fragments of pavements [Arch., XXIX, 272]. "In 1878, a collection of Roman glass from this site was exhibited to the Archæological Association including a mass of green and white glass-slag weighing nearly ½ cwt., also two small masses of blue glass, each retaining part of the pot in which they were inserted, a rim of an urn of olive glass, a portion of a basin with filigree lines of white, a handle of a small cantharus, a portion of imitative chalcedony, two 'mixers,' one having within a white line and cut without in Roman facets and what appears intended as a lachrymatory, also a bowl of iron from the blue Roman earth, for pressing and moulding the ornamental portions of glass vessels presenting a pattern very similar to those from Cyprus." These discoveries naturally suggest that glass was manufactured on the spot [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., XXXIV, 254]. A complete amphora, now in the Guildhall, was found with five or six others standing in a row, about 1876; others were found in 1865 [Lond. and Midd. Arch. Soc. Trans., III, 100]. In 1878, fragments of a tessellated pavement were found close to St. Clement's Church [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., XXXIV, 134].

Cloak Lane (Plan A 120). Wooden piles similar to those found in Princes Street are said to have been found here, also two spear-heads and some concrete pavement [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., II, 341]. In 1846, an inscription was found (see p. 172). In excavating for the District Railway in 1888, and under the site of St. John the Baptist, Walbrook (Plan A 121), "part of the floor of a Roman villa" was found [Antiq., XVII, 175]; the pavement, now in the Guildhall Museum [Cat., p. 72, No. 20], is of the herring-bone type. It was found at a depth of 21 ft., and near it was "a large quantity of stout oak piling and the sill of a bridge which crossed the brook from E. to W." In 1905, remains of piles were found in the bed of the Walbrook, with Roman pottery [Arch., LX, 230].

Fig. 34. Stream depression, Coleman Street. From Archæologia, LXIII.

Coleman Street. J. E. Price mentions a brick floor, in Coleman Street Buildings (Plan A 135), apparently vitrified by heat; it was found in 1843 at a depth of 20 ft. [Bucklersbury Pavement, 54].

In 1907, the depression (Fig. 34) formed by a western arm of the Walbrook was found on the W. side of a site (Plan A 134) bounded by Coleman Street, Moorgate Street and Lothbury. The depression was bounded for a short distance on both sides by chalk walls; between them the filling was black mud and rushes and contained a Samian pot, with the stamp PRITMA. At the S. end of the depression was a wooden enclosure 3 ft. square, perhaps to protect a spring or for drawing water [Arch., LXIII, 312, with plan].

College Street, Dowgate Hill. In excavating for the rebuilding of Dyers' Hall (Plan A 119), in 1839, remains of a pavement were found at 13 ft. 8 in. (Illus. Rom. London says 15 to 16 ft.) below the surface; also pottery and coins. The lower part of the ground in which the above were found, for 4½ ft. in thickness, appeared to be the sediment from water, probably the ancient Walbrook, and in it, scattered over the surface, was a large quantity (20 cwt.) of animal bones [Gent. Mag. (1839), II, 636; Rom. Brit. Rem. I, 206; Illus. Rom. Lond., 59].

Copthall Avenue (formerly Little Bell Alley). A note on a City Sewers Plan of 1851–2 (III, 1) records that, in Little Bell Alley (Plan A 62), between London Wall and New Court, vertical oak piles were met with, and horizontal planking which seemed to have formed the embankment of the Walbrook. On the removal (December, 1906) of the houses Nos. 10 and 12, on the E. side of the avenue, many piles were found on all parts of the site. The undisturbed surface shelved towards the E., where the loam gave place to streamdeposit of washed gravel and sand; the whole was covered with 5 or 6 ft. of black mud [Arch., LX, 232, with site-plan].

An excavation at the N. end of Copthall Avenue in 1923 revealed numerous piles in the 12 ft. of "mud, peat and slurry" lying above the London Clay [Information from City Corporation].

Corbet Court, Gracechurch Street. A wall here is mentioned by Kelsey [Descr. of Sewers, 100].

In 1872, remains of massive walls, about 9 ft. thick, of chalk, rubble and mortar, with a few tiles, came to light beneath the Norman crypt (Plan A 35), S. of Corbet Court; fragments of pottery, found therewith, seem to support the view that they were Roman [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., XXVIII, 179, with plan]. See also under Gracechurch Street and Leadenhall Market.

Cornhill. In the British Museum is a vase, from Roach Smith's collection, with figures in appliqué; it was found, together with remains of a wall, between Bank Buildings and the Royal Exchange (Plan A 74) in 1841; a shaft only was sunk, but the wall appeared to run in the direction of the Bank; thickness 7 ft., height 14 ft., depth 20 ft. from the bottom to the street-level. [Illus. Rom. Lond., 97; Cat. Lond. Antiq., pl. 6; Déchelette, II, 187; Arch., XXIX. 273].

In 1891 a series of substantial walls (Fig. 35) was found under No. 50 Cornhill (Plan A 81). They were of rubble with fragments of Roman brick, and extended down to some 21½ ft. below the pavement-level. The walls were standing 9 ft. high and were thought by Mr Grover to have been foundations formed in trenches; he states that one piece of the superstructure (Plate 43) survived "under the (St. Michael's) church at the S.W. corner. It is a large block of carefully worked ashlar sandstone, laid on the top of the rubble wall, the only accessible stone of a course on which a good Roman brick wall is built." Three wells were found, two of which are said to have been Roman, some tessellated pavement, etc. A fragment of the N. face of the southern wall is still exposed in the basement of the modern building. Some doubt has been expressed as to whether the southern group of these walls was of Roman date. The original plan in the Soc. Antiq. Library [Brown Portfolio] shows that the walls were parallel and alligned with those of the Basilica (Fig. 3). The plan reproduced in Arch. LX is thus incorrect [Antiq., XXIV, 212; cf. Pall Mall Gazette, 20th August, 1891; fuller details in Proc. Soc. Antiq. (Ser. 2), XIV, 6; see also Arch., LX, 223, plan].

Fig. 35.

In 1897 a Roman wall was found in the foundations of the new building (Plan A 79) on the N. side of Cornhill for the Union Bank of Australia [Midd. and Herts. Notes and Queries, 1897].

In 1922, on the demolition of Nos, 56 and 57 Cornhill, (Plan A 80), on the N. side of St. Peter's Church, 6 or 7 ft. of Roman walling was uncovered running at a slight angle under the wall of the church. The wall had a double course of bondingtiles and would appear to be in a line with the transverse wall found in 1921–2 near the top of Gracechurch Street [Lond. and Midd. Arch. Soc. Trans., N.S. V, 49]. The wall is described by Dr. P. Norman as follows:—"The top of it, as far as it remained, was about 9 ft. 6 in. below the pavement. The builders' excavations only went a little lower; a special hole was therefore dug in order to find a short stretch of the northern face of the wall down to its foundations which were met at a depth of 17 ft. Its thickness could not be ascertained, as the southern face is under St. Peter's. In construction—four or five courses of squared rag-stone alternating with two to five courses of tiles—and in direction this wall corresponds closely with those found under Leadenhall Market in 1880–1, and with the wall found in Gracechurch Street in November, 1921. The Cornhill wall, indeed, appears to be a western continuation of that already described. It has been remarked that the southern face of this was plastered; on the Cornhill wall a tiny piece of plaster was left, showing traces of red paint" [Antiq. Journ.. II, 260; Journ. Rom. Studies, XI, 219].

About the same time on the demolition of No. 36 at the E. angle of Birchin Lane (Plan A 83), a wall was found 4½ ft. back from the frontage and passing under Ball Court; the top was about 9 ft. below the pavement, but there was some doubt as to its Roman date. It was stated at the time that a second wall had been found running diagonally across the extreme N.W. angle of the site [Land, and Midd. Arch. Soc. Trans., N.S., V, 49].

Fig. 36.

In 1923–4, on the demolition of the houses between St. Michael's church and the road (Plan A 82), considerable fragments of Roman walling (Fig. 36) were found, the largest of which was apparently part of a thick wall (about 5 ft.) running diagonally across the site in a north-easterly direction, and apparently continuing towards the porch of the church. In the E. half of the site were found portions of three walls forming three sides of a rectangular apartment. The northern wall was composed of four courses of brick with four or five courses of rag-stone below; the southern wall was of similar construction; the brick courses in the eastern wall were not at the same level as those in the northern wall; above the bricks in the eastern wall was a course of ashlar. A shallow sinking near the middle of the site passed through the base of a wall perhaps of earlier date. A brick stamped P.P.BR.LON was found loose in the excavations [Lond, and Midd. Arch. Soc. Trans., N.S., V, 189, with plan, and A.C.].

In 1926, on clearing the site of No. 15 Cornhill (Plan A 87), a wall was found running N. by W. under Cornhill. The wall was about 4 ft. thick, and stood on gravel 14 ft. below the street-level; it was of rag-stone with some tiles and a double bonding-course of tiles; the wall remained standing to a height of 3 or 4 ft. [R.E.M.W.].

Crosby Square, Bishopsgate. Part of a tessellated pavement (Plan A 49) was found in March, 1836, about 13 ft. below the surface, under a house (No. 3 Crosby Square) at the S.W. angle of the Square, with guilloche-pattern of red, white and grey tesserae (another account says scrolls in red, yellow, white and black). From the style of workmanship it appeared to be of early date (Antonine period ?). Below it was a layer of coarse mortar, on a bed of hard ground 2 ft. thick. The site is said to be intersected by ancient foundations 12 ft. or 14 ft. down, running N. and S. [ Gent. Mag., 1836, I, 369; Rom. Brit. Rem., I, 193; Arch., XXVII, 397; Morgan, Rom. Brit. Mosaic Pavements, 182; Soc. Antiq. MS. Min. XXXVII, 67].

Crutched Friars. A pavement, now at the Society of Antiquaries, was discovered in Northumberland Alley (Plan A 4), at a depth of 12 ft., in July, 1787 [Soc. Antiq. MS. Min. XXII, 281; Morgan, Rom. Brit. Mosaic Pavements, 179; Allen, Hist, of Lond., I, 29; Arch., XXXIX, 491; Way's Cat., 1847, 12].

Previous to 1805 a pavement was found in digging foundations for the East India Co's. warehouses, Northumberland Alley (Plan A 4); it is said to have been at a depth of about 7 ft. [Gent. Mag., 1807, I, 415–7].

Dowgate Hill (Plan A 118). Remains of a large edifice and pavement were discovered after the Great Fire [Archer, Vestiges of Old London, II; Allen, Hist. Lond., III, 508; Wren, Parentalia, 265].

Eastcheap. A road (Fig. 37) was uncovered in 1831 in making a sewer across Great Eastcheap to Gracechurch Street (Plan A 27) 3 ft. below the present pavement; it was 16 ft. wide and 7½ ft. thick, of gravel-concrete on a bed of loam, with supporting walls of rag-stone and tiles. In direction it "apparently tended from Cannon Street in the direction of Little Eastcheap," but another authority says it tended N.E. of this line [Arch., XXV, 602; Gent. Mag., 1833, II, 421; Herbert, Hist, of St. Michael, Crooked Lane, 20]. On the other side of Gracechurch Street at the top of Crooked Lane, in excavating for the sewer under the N. approach to New London Bridge, a raised bank of gravel 6 ft. deep and 18 ft. wide and 5 ft. below the modern pavement was also noted, and at the N.E. corner of this street was found a wall, a little in advance of the line of modern houses, of rag-stone 2 ft. thick, with a double course of white-clay tiles, in which were a flue-tile with four apertures and two coins of Claudius. Mr. Kempe also saw in 1831 a massive architectural fragment, which he took to be the architrave of some building, and a floor of coarse tesserae, just under St. Michael's church, about 14 ft. square. A little to the N. were two wells. Piers and an arch of chalk and a floor of coarse tesserae were found in clearing for new buildings at the N.E. corner of Eastcheap [Arch., XXIV, 191; Gent. Mag., 1836, I, 135; Rom. Brit. Rem., I, 191].

Fig. 37. From Gentleman's Magazine, 1836.

In 1833 a report speaks of discoveries at the S.E. corner of Great Eastcheap; these included the lower part of Roman walls of flint, much Gaulish pottery and coarser ware, coins of Claudius, and a well, steined with squared chalk, the top 10 ft. below street-level [Gent. Mag., 1833, I, 69; II, 421, ff.]. Another wall is mentioned in 1834, about 4 ft. N. of the N. wall of the Roman road (Plan A 27); it was of the usual type, 3 ft. thick, receding upwards, as if supporting some structure. Coins of Vespasian were found here, also one of Julia Augusta [Ibid., 1834, I, 93, drawing; see also Soc. Antiq. MS. Min. XXXVI. 337, 401].

In Little Eastcheap in 1836 traces of Roman work were noted in the foundations of the church (Plan A 26) of St. Andrew Hubbard (destroyed in the Fire); and fragments of pottery were found [Gent. Mag., 1836, I, 135]. Roach Smith says foundations of houses were found at every step all along the street at 12 to 20 ft., and mentions a head of a Bacchante in green glass found there [Arch., XXIX, 153–4].

Fenchurch Street. Walls were found in digging a sewer in 1833 near the end of Mincing Lane, and near the bottom of Cullum Street (Plan A 8), at a depth of 12 ft., also two pavements, one with geometrical patterns of red, grey, and white tesserae, the other of red tesserae only, but large and perfect, under the footpath opposite the entrance of the house No. 36; also fragments of plaster, painted bright vermillion. Between Mincing Lane and Billiter Street, 16 ft. deep, were found "abundance of tiles, mortar and fresco, with pottery, a terra-cotta female head and mill-stone." At the entrance of Lime Street from Fenchurch Street the ground was thickly intersected with walls as far as Cullum Street and heaps of frescopainting were found [Gent. Mag., 1834, I, 156; Arch., XXIX, 153; Jonrn. Brit. Arch. Assoc., XXIII, 205]. In the same year were found, on the site of St. Gabriel's Church (Plan A 32), part of a hand in bronze (Plate 3) of large dimensions [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., XXIV, 75, with plate].

Fig. 38.

A note on a City Sewers Plan of 1853–4 (III, 66), records the discovery of a stone wall, running diagonally across the street, between London Street and Billiter Street (Plan A 6).

Another pavement was uncovered in 1857, in digging foundations of a house (No. 37) opposite Cullum Street (Plan A 9) at a depth of 11½ ft., measuring 2 ft 4 in. by 2 ft. 6 in., with a richly coloured design (Plate 40) on a white ground, representing a peacock and vase within a guilloche and plain border [Illus. Rom. Lond., 58 (fig.); Proc. Soc. Antiq. (Ser. 2), XVII, 322; Roach Smith, Retrospections, II, 200; Morgan, Rom. Brit. Mosaic Pavements, 191]; this is now in the British Museum

Rubble walls and a rough flooring of red tile were revealed in 1911 in trenches cut at the back of No. 80a (Plan A 5). Evidently other foundations exist on this site, but they have not been explored [Arch., LXIII, 320].

In November, 1921, in making a tunnel for telephone wires, a wall was discovered running approximately E. and W. towards the N. side of the street, some 60 ft. to the E. of Gracechurch Street (Plan A 30). The S. face of the wall had been destroyed by a previous excavation for a sewer, but three courses of flint surmounted by three courses of bricks were observed [Lond. and Midd. Arch. Soc. Trans., N.S., IV, 333].

In November and December, 1923, the remains of an important building (Fig. 38) were uncovered under Nos. 46 and 47 (Plan A 7) on the S. side of Fenchurch Street, between that thoroughfare and the N. Side of the Clothworkers' Hall. The complete plan could not be recovered as the whole area was not excavated, but remains were found of several apartments. The main structure rested in the natural gravel and consisted of a chamber about 40 ft. by 25 ft. internally, running nearly N. and S., and divided by a cross-wall into two equal rooms. The outer walls were entirely of brick, 2 ft. thick and four courses to the foot. The whole was paved with tiles about 9 in. square, and appeared (though there was no trace of pilae) to have been originally a hypocaust, for the floor-level was 4 ft. lower than the original surface, and the outer face of the containing walls, against undisturbed gravel and brick-earth, was not faced. Later, sleeper-walls of rag-stone and bonding-tiles about 4 ft. 6 in. high, 18 in. thick and 18 in. apart had been built across the chamber. The intervals had been filled with rubble, and a cement floor, supporting a double layer of bonding tiles, had been laid over all. In the cross-wall was the respond and part of the springing of a low arch under the floor. There were indications of adjoining rooms, N. under the street and S. under Clothworkers' Hall, but on the E. the site had not been built on, the ground being undisturbed ballast [Journ. of Rom. Studies, XII, 257, and A.C.].

Fig. 39. Arch in Old Fish Street Hill. From Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., I.

In 1927, excavations on the site of Nos. 15–17 Fenchurch Street (Plan A 31) revealed traces of three habitation-levels, near the middle of the site. No structural remains were found [R.E.M.W. and A.C.].

Finch Lane. Part of a tessellated pavement was found in 1844–5 between this lane and the Royal Exchange (Plan A 85), representing a female head, in red, white, black and green tesserae. Fragments of other pavements and indications of buildings were also noted [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., I, 64]. In 1847 the walls of houses were noticed running across Finch Lane and Birchin Lane and into Cornhill and Lombard Street, together with remains of tessellated pavement. On the right of Finch Lane going S., about midway (Plan A 84), at a depth of 13 ft., traces of a very extensive tessellated pavement were found; the only portion preserved was a double guilloche in black, red, yellow and white, enclosing a square [Ibid., II, 205]. See also Birchin Lane.

Fish Street Hill (Old). In December, 1845, during excavations made for a sewer in Old Fish Street Hill, near the entrance into Thames Street (Plan A 170), walls were found at a depth of 16 ft.; one wall, 3 to 4 ft. thick, ran parallel to the street towards Thames Street, and another crossed it at right angles. In the latter was an arch (Fig. 39) 3 ft. wide and 3½ ft. high. The walls were built on large hewn stones laid on wooden piles. By the side of the wall which ran parallel to the sewer, about 16 ft. from the arch, were several tiers of tiles each 2 ft. by 1½ ft. placed upon massive hewn stones, one being 4 ft. 5 in. long [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., I, 45, with illustration]. The position of one wall, crossing the street, is indicated on a City Sewers Plan [I, 139].

Friday Street. A large piece of coarse tessellated pavement was found in 1844, 16 ft. to 18 ft. below street-level, also some "Roman wells or cesspools," on the site of the old Saracen's Head Inn (Plan A 150) adjoining St. Matthew's Church on the S. side [Lond. and Midd, Arch. Soc. Trans., III, 339]. When the church of St. Matthew was pulled down in 1886, part of the same or another pavement was discovered "in a very dislocated condition, sloping from N. to S."; it lay at a depth of about 14 ft. below the present street-level; the fragment was about 3 ft. square and lay at about 13 ft. from the E. wall of the church and at a similar distance from the S. wall. It was composed of rough red tile tesserae. A portion of this pavement, "re-arranged for preservation" in 1888, is preserved on the N. side of the church of St. Vedast, Foster Lane. According to the accompanying inscription, it was found about 18 ft. below the ground-level. [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., XLII, 435; Reliq., N.S., I, 108].

Fig. 40. Wall between Friday Street and Knightrider Street. From Archæologia, LX.

A wall (Fig. 40) crossing this street and Knightrider Street (Plan A 165) diagonally was found in 1906. It was 4 ft. thick and 9 ft. high. It had been built between boarding with upright posts 4 ft. apart on the inner or wall-side of the boarding. The matrices of these posts and the imprint of the boarding remained on both sides of the wall. The foundation rested on the ballast at a depth of 21 ft. below the street-level. A continuation of this wall was found, at an earlier date in constructing a sewer in Friday Street [Proc. Soc. Antiq., XXI, 229; Arch., LX, 219 (Plan); cf. Arch., XL, 49].

Goldsmiths' Hall, Foster Lane (Plan A 148). For the altar found on this site, see p. 43 and Plate 12. One writer speaks of "strongly cemented masses of stonework" on the site where this altar was found, more like natural rock than masonry, and so hard that it had to be blasted with gunpowder. The altar is preserved in the Goldsmiths' Hall [Gent. Mag., 1831, I, 390, 452; Hartridge, Coll. Newsp. Cuttings, Old Lond., I, 21; Arch., XXIV, 350 (Fig.); Coll. Antiq., I, 134, pl. 45; Illus. Rom. Lond., pl. 2, fig. 4, p. 48; Archer, Vestiges of Old London, pl. 9; Soc. Antiq. MS. Min. XXXVI, 128; and for the supposed inscription, Corp. Inscr. Latin. VII, 21].

Gracechurch Street. In 1834, massive and substantial masonry was found at the N. end of the street, from Corbet's Court to the end, and in the angle of Lombard Street (near Half Moon Court) were coffins with human remains, probably mediæval [Kelsey, Descr. of Sewers, 100]. Opposite St. Benet's Place (Plan A 28), in digging foundations of two houses, pavements of houses were found (evidently on the W. side of Gracechurch Street) in 1841 [Arch., XXIX, 154]. In the sewer excavations, at the N. and S. walls of St. Benet Gracechurch (Plan A 29), walls 4 ft. thick and 22 ft. from the surface, continuing down to the depth of the sewer, were found running under Gracechurch Street. To the N. of Lombard Street, excavations passed under a burial-ground filled with interments, and beside other remains of buildings, walls of 6, 7 and 11 ft. in breadth, extending E. and W., were found at and near Half Moon Passage (now the central avenue of Leadenhall Market: these were evidently the continuations of the walls of the great building (Plan A 37) found when the Market was reconstructed, see LeadenHall Market) [Cat. Antiq. Roy. Exch., p. XII].

In 1866–8 finds were made in Spread Eagle Yard (Plan A 39) of a pavement of considerable extent, and the left hand (Plate 2) of a bronze statue [Guildhall Mus., Cat., p. 70, No. 21; Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., XXIV, 76; Proc. Soc. Antiq. (Ser. 2), X, 93]. In 1906 a wall of tiles was brought to light at the corner of Leadenhall Avenue [Arch., LX, 225].

In 1908, in sinking an artesian well at No. 85, on the E. side of Gracechurch Street (Plan A 40), a Roman wall 3½ ft. thick was found, 21 ft. from the surface and standing 5 ft. high; at the top was a triple bonding-course of tiles. The wall ran parallel to the street [Arch., LXIII, 320].

In September, 1912, the buildings on the W. side of the street, between Corbet Court and Bell Yard (Plan A 34) were demolished. In the northern part of the site was found a Roman wall, 4½ ft. thick and with the base 27 ft. below the surface; it was built of rag-stone bonded at 3 ft. intervals with double layers of tiles. The wall ran from S. to N. then turned at right angles and passed under the street. On the S. side of Bell Yard (Plan A 33) was another Roman wall, 2 ft. thick and with the base 16½ ft. below the surface. The base was of rag-stone with two courses of tiles at the top. Below the wall was a mass of flint and mortar more than 4 ft. thick [Arch., LXIII, 320, with plan]. See also Corbet Court.

In January, 1922, "the excavations for telephone wires having been continued along Gracechurch Street, two Roman walls were found in the roadway, E. of St. Peter's Church, Cornhill (Plan A 41), and opposite its northern portion. The more important one ran E. and W. It was 4 ft. 6 in. or more in thickness, and the base was not reached (by probing) at a depth of 16 ft. At a depth of 10 to 11 ft. below street-level were five rows of tiles between courses of squared rag-stone, and some feet higher up were two rows. The upper part of the S. side of this wall was plastered and painted. The plaster was badly damaged, but it seems to have had by way of decoration square or oblong panels in black outline on a yellow ground with touches of red. The other wall stood at right angles. It was clearly later, for the plaster on that first described continued behind the junction. It was 2 ft. 9 in. thick, and built entirely of rag-stone except for a double lacingcourse of tiles about 12 ft. 6 in. down. At this level on its W. side were traces of a white cement floor several inches thick. The footings of this wall did not seem to go deeper than 14 ft. 6 in. Both sides had been plastered and painted, but only the W. side could be examined. This was decorated like the S. side of the first wall, but only the lower part of the panels could be seen. The ground-level on the W. side of the second wall had been raised later to a height of 4 ft. above the original floor, and a rough brick tessellated pavement laid. As regards dating it is clear that there are three periods; (1) the first wall, which is not very early, (2) the second wall, and (3) the tessellated pavement " [Antiq. Journ., 1922, II, 140; Journ. of Rom. Studies, XI, 218; Lond. and Midd. Arch. Soc. Trans., N.S., IV, 339]

Gresham Street (formerly Maiden Lane, Lad Lane and Cateaton Street). In excavations for the sewer in Gresham Street (Plan A 141) in 1843 a red brick pavement was found near the W. end of Lad Lane; a little W. of this near Wood Street was a herring-bone pavement (bricks 4 in. by 2 in. by 1 in.), and another on the W. side of Wood Street, with a border of white and grey tesserae; this pavement extends beneath St. Michael's church. In October, 1844, white tesserae were observed at the corner of Maiden Lane and Wood Street. The pavement found on the N. side of St. Michael's Church, was now traced on the other side of the church. The relative position of these pavements is recorded on two plans (Fig. 41) by Roach Smith in the Guildhall Library [Add. Prints, p. 61]. The plans do not entirely agree with the description quoted above. A portion of one of these pavements is preserved at the Society of Antiquaries [Gent. Mag., 1843, I, 22, 190; II, 81; Rom. Brit. Rem., I, 197 ff.; cf. II, 556; Proc. Soc. Antiq. (Ser. 1), II, 184]. Another pavement was recorded in 1848 [Proc. Soc. Antiq. (Ser. 1), II, 126].

In 1908 several Roman rubbish-pits were found on a site at the E. corner of Gresham Street and Aldermanbury (Plan A 140). They extended to a depth of 19 ft., and contained a few fragments of pottery and many oyster-shells [Arch., LXIII, 314].

Mr. F. Lambert, writing in 1923, records that at the N.E. corner of Wood Street and Gresham Street (Plan A 142) the lowest courses of a brick wall were found, under the present building line and running almost N.W. and S.E. Adjoining it, and within the site, were the remains of a pavement of bonding-tiles, of the usual size and type, which must have been the floor of a shallow cellar or a hypocaust, for it lay 4 ft. below the surface of the brick-earth which formed the Roman surface [Journ. Rom. Studies, XII, 257].

Grocers' Hall, Prince's Street (Plan A 131). A pavement of concrete with coating of thin red earth was found, at a depth of 17 ft. 6 in., in 1834 [Kelsey, Descr. of Sewers, 112].

Fig. 41.

Guildhall. In excavating for the Sewers' Office, at the back of the Guildhall (Plan A 138), in 1861, a pavement of grey slate and white marble was found (Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., XVII, 325].

Honey Lane. In 1861, on the site of Honey Lane Market (Plan A 144) in front of the City of London School and facing Bow church, in making trenches for new walls at a depth of 17 ft., the workmen came upon a tessellated pavement which appeared to run parallel to the road. The portion uncovered was 6 to 7 ft. long and 4 ft. wide, and was formed of red and yellow tesserae. Some 30 ft. N. of this pavement were remains of a thick wall, apparently Roman. Fragments of wall-paintings were also found [Lond. and Midd. Arch. Soc. Trans., II (Proceedings at Meetings), 68. See also Arch. Rev., I, 278].

Fig. 42. Ditch between Jewry Street and City Wall. From Archæologia, LX.

Huggin Lane, Thames Street. Between Queen Victoria Street and Thames Street (Plan A 163) two walls are indicated, crossing the lane, on a City Sewers Plan of 1845 [I, 139].

Huggin Lane, Wood Street (Plan A 143). Fragments of pavement were found in 1851, of grey and white tesserae [Proc. Soc. Antiq. (Ser. 1), II, 184]. See also Gresham Street.

Jewry Street. In 1905, on clearing the site of Nos. 18–20 Jewry Street and No. 1 Crutched Friars (Plan A 3), a ditch (Fig. 42) was found, cut in the ballast. It was about 8 ft. wide, 6 ft. deep and filled with dark earth. Its line was not parallel to the town-wall, but converged towards the N. [Arch., LX. 193].

King Edward Street (formerly Butcher Hall Lane). Immediately in front of the tavern at the N. end of Butcher Hall Lane (Plan A 182), 12 to 14 ft. deep, a portion of a wall was found, mainly of chalk, crossing the lane, and apparently about 5 ft. thick [Gent. Mag., 1843, I, 21; II, 81, 416; Rom. Brit. Rem., 197].

King's Arms Yard Moorgate Street. E. B. Price records the discovery in 1843, at the corner of King's Arms Yard (Plan A 137) on the E. side of Moorgate Street, of part of a tessellated pavement of red, white and grey tesserae [Gent. Mag., 1843, I, 520].

King Street. In 1926–7, in re-building Nos. 7 and 8 King Street, Cheapside (Plan A 145), remains of early Roman occupation were discovered. The excavation revealed seven or eight occupationlevels between 14 and 18 ft. below the surface and containing pottery, none of which appeared to be later than the reign of Trajan. There was evidence of two fires one over the lowest occupation-level, and one over the fourth level. On the original gravel surface were fragments of pre-Flavian Samian including one stamped MVRRANVS, coarse pottery and the stumps of bushes [G. Home in Morning Post, Jan. 27th, 1927, and Discovery VIII, 35]. On the S. side of the site was evidence of a small natural water-channel, running, apparently, N.N.W. and E.S.E.

Fig. 43.

King William Street. Roach Smith adduces "numerous evidences of Roman habitation on either side of this street: (a) walls of rough unhewn pieces of chalk, often mixed with flints and cemented by firm mortar, ran under or partially intersected the street, which seems to have been closely occupied with dwelling-houses; (b) wells of chalk filled with earth mixed with tiles, pottery, bones, were often opened; (c) quantities of fragments of earthen vessels and Samian pottery were found; (d) adjoining St. Clement's Church, 12 ft. beneath present level, was a tessellated pavement composed of pieces of red brick. . . . (e) near the same church many vessels of brown and black earth, small earthen lamps, much Samian ware, rings of base metal, and coins . . . . chiefly Claudius, Vespasian, Domitian, with base denarii of Severus, Caracalla, Alexander Severus, and Julia Mammaea." Towards the Bank the Roman level was much deeper, and numerous wooden piles were observed, also walls intersecting the street; "many dwelling-houses on its line, but no trace of a high road" [Arch., XXVII, 140; cf. Gent. Mag., 1835, I, 82]. Between London Bridge and Arthur Street was found a bed of oyster-shells, 7 ft. thick, and Stow supposes this to be the site of the "Oyster Gate" [Kelsey, Descr. of Sewers, 95; Herbert, Hist, of St. Michael, Crooked Lane, 14].

In May, 1914, excavations took place on the site of Nos. 3–6 King William Street between Sherborne Lane and Abchurch Lane (Plan A 97). No Roman buildings were found on the site but a series of rubbish-pits were disclosed, the largest extending under Sherborne Lane, and containing at the bottom objects which seemed to belong to the third quarter of the 1st century [Arch., LXVI, 264–5, with plan of site]. Other sites on both sides of the street produced evidence of an extensive fire in this portion of the town early in the Roman occupation, indications of which had already been observed on the site of Nos. 3–6. On the site of Nos. 61–66 (excavated in 1920) at the angle of the street (Plan A 98), N. of William IV's statue three Roman walls were found running N. and S. The two eastern were of squared rag-stone with one double bondingcourse of brick, remaining; between these walls at the base was a cambered layer of chalky mortar, 6 in. thick, and along the eastern side were traces of tiles laid as though to form a drain. The space above the cambered layer was filled with pebbles and fragments of tile packed tightly with the layer stones at the bottom, in red earth; the whole was capped by a horizontal white flooring at the level of the top of the bonding-courses; this flooring was 9¾ ft. below the pavement-level. The third wall, further to the W. was, at its southern end, built entirely of rag-stone and under the pavement its base rose as though to admit a broad arch. N. of this stretch, after a gap of some feet, was a 20ft. length of wall of an entirely different type. It was rather more than 3 ft. thick with four courses of squared rag-stone between each double bondingcourse of bricks. It apparently extended completely across the site [Arch., LXXI, 60].

In October, 1924, in making a sewer from the N. part of Nicholas Lane at a depth of 19 ft. chalk foundations were met with in King William Street (Plan A 94). The foundations were exposed to a depth of 6 ft. but neither the top nor the bottom was reached; they appeared to belong to a wall running at right angles to King William Street [Q.W.].

Knightrider Street. For the wall found near the top of St. Peter's Hill, see under St. Peter's Hill. For the wall found in 1906 at the corner of Friday Street, see under Friday Street.

Fig. 44. Sewer in Little Knightrider Street. From Journ. B.A.A., I.

In August, 1844, an arch (Fig. 44) was found on the S. side of the excavation for a sewer, in front of No. 15, Little Knightrider Street (Plan A 167), resembling closely that in Old Fish Street Hill. It was of horseshoe form, of tiles 12 in long, in a wall of Kentish rag, and was filled in with earth [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., I, 253, sketch of arch].

Lambeth Hill. The position of a wall (Plan A 166), found in this street is indicated on a City Sewers Plan of 1845 [I, 139].

Fig. 45. Remains under East India House. From Archæologia, XXXIX, by permission.

Laurence Pountney Lane. In 1846, in making a sewer, walls built of tegulae sesquipedales (18 in. by 12 in.) were discovered. A large space was covered by a pavement of coarse red tesserae. From the churchyard (Plan A 107) to Cannon Street the ground at short intervals bore the remains, at unequal depths, of dwelling-houses and of walls of greater thickness, one opposite the churchyard, formed of rag-stone and flints with tiles in masses and layers was discovered 3 ft. from surface and descended to 10 ft. Opposite the houses numbered 26 and 3 were bases of two columns, at a depth of 8 ft. and of a diameter of 15 in. and 19 in., embedded in a thick layer of débris of buildings. At the entrance to Church Passage at a depth of 3 ft. was a wall 4½ ft. thick and bonded with tiles. Opposite No. 27 at a depth of 3 to 4 ft. were remains of common red tessellated pavement. Nearer to Cannon Street mill-stones formed part of a wall; they were of a kind of hard lava from the neighbourhood of Andernach [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., II, 340, 345].

Leadenhall Market. A general consideration of the architectural features of the building (the Basilica) found on this and adjoining sites has already been given together with illustrations (Figs. 3 to 7) on p. 35 of the Introduction.

The foundations on the site of Leadenhall Market (Plan A 37), planned and drawn by H. Hodge in 1881, appear to indicate a building over 400 ft. in length with a width of about 40 ft. and an apse at the E. end. To the S. of the apse are rectangular compartments of indeterminate extent, and on the N. side of the main S. wall is a smaller apse which may have been a foundation-arch only. The foundations obviously represent the work of at least two periods, distinguished from each other by the more liberal use of brick, with comparatively thin mortar-joints, in the one case and by a larger admixture of stone and by wider joints in the other. The general plan bears a strong superficial resemblance to that of a basilica. The main S. wall, again partly uncovered in 1906 [Arch., LX, 225], appears to be double, representing the work of two periods; the N. half may have been a sleeper-wall carrying an arcade and the S. half may represent a later enclosing wall. The fragment still visible (in the cellar of a shop at the N. angle of the Central Avenue and Gracechurch Street) consists of a rectangular mass of concrete, 6 in. thick, carrying a course of ashlar 6 ft. broad and visible to a length of. 10 ft.; on this is a brick wall, 2½ ft. high and 5 ft. broad, ending on the E. in a square jamb, which may have been rebated to the extent of about 1½ ft. at the N.E. angle. The pavements of this building are described by Loftus Brock as follows:—"A Roman pavement of ordinary brick tesserae has been found over a large part of the surface and covered with the ashes of some great fire. Above this is concrete of a second floor, while below the remains of walls 5 ft. thick have been found" [Builder, 1881, I, 110; Plans by H. Hodge in Guildhall Library, Add. Prints, p. 96, and Arch., LXVI, 225, with plan and drawings]. For other walls connected with this building, see Gracechurch Street and for a fuller discussion of the architectural features of the building see p. 35. Fragments of fresco-paintings (now in British Museum) with foliage in green on a red ground were also found [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., XXXVII, 84, 90; Proc. Soc. Antiq. (Ser. 2) VII, 524]. In April, 1888, "a beautiful specimen of a Roman floor " was reported [Antiq., XVII, 175]; this is probably the one now in the Guildhall [Cat., p. 72, Nos. 10–15].

In 1883–4, on the clearing of the site between St. Peter's Alley and Corbet Court (Plan A 36) on the W. side of Gracechurch Street, the continuation of the main wall of the supposed Basilica was traced for about 90 ft. W. of the roadway; another small apse was found, presumably also a foundation-arch, and about 33 ft. to the S. another wall was found not quite parallel to the first, but extending completely across the site. For the cross-walls, etc., found at the same time, see plan p. 40, Plate 5 [Plan by H. Hodge in Guildhall Library, Add. Prints, p. 27].

In November, 1924, in sinking a shaft in the floor of the basement of shop No. 7 (Plan A 38) on the N. side of the Central Avenue, Roman concrete was cut through for a depth of 11½ ft. The basement is 15 ft. 4 in. below the ground-floor level. This masonry equates with the second cross-wall W. of the apse shown in Mr. Hodge's plan, taken when the Market was built [Q.W.].

Leadenhall Street. The chief discovery in this street has been the pavement (now in the British Museum), found in December, 1803, in searching for a sewer, below the carriage-way pavement opposite the easternmost columns of the portico of East India House (Plan A 42), at a depth of 9½ ft. It formed the floor of a room more than 20 ft. square, the central square, which is now all that remains, measuring 11 ft. The design (Plate 49) consists of a figure of Bacchus riding on a tiger, with thyrsos and drinking-cup, within a triple border; in the angles are drinking-cups and plants; the whole was surrounded by a plain red border 5 ft. wide. Under one corner was found part of an urn containing a jaw bone, and on the opposite side of the street were foundations of tile and Kentish rag-stone [T. Fisher, Gent. Mag. 1804, I, 83; 1807, I, 415; Arch., XXXIX, 493; Kelsey, Descr. of Sewers, 53; Soc. Ant. MS. Min. XXX, 181; Hughson, Hist, of Lond., I, 34; Morgan, Rom. Brit. Mosaic Pavements, 179].

A red tessellated pavement was noticed in 1846, on the site of the premises then built for the Peninsular Steam Navigation Company (Plan A 48) on the site of the old King's Arms Tavern. It was said to extend over a large portion of the area [Arch., LXIII, 321; Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., II, 340]. This site was apparently on the N. side of the street between St. Mary Axe and Shaft Alley.

In 1863 the India House was pulled down and many discoveries (Fig. 45) were made. Below the portico (Plan A 43) a room was found paved with red tesserae, with walls of Kentish rubble and chalk bonded with tiles, plastered and coloured in fresco. This was thought to be a small room adjoining the larger one in which was the pavement of 1803; but it is stated to be at a much greater depth (19 ft. 6 in.), and must, therefore, be of earlier date. At the depth of the other pavement (9 ft. 6 in.), but to the N. under the street, another mosaic pavement was found in 1864, and is now in the British Museum, to which, with other antiquities from the site, it was presented by Sir W. Tite in that year [Arch., XXXIX, pl. 21, p. 500; Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., XIX, 63; Arch. Journ., XX, 177; Morgan, Rom. Brit. Mosaic Pavements, 192, 193; Illus. Lond. News, March 12th, 1864, 267].

Two portions of pavements are reported in 1882 from the site of Rochester Buildings (Plan A 44), opposite that of the India House, and possibly belonging to the same building, at 11 ft. below street-level [Arch. Journ., XL, 107]. A plan showing the approximate position of the pavements (Plan A 47) found in the street, opposite East India House, is preserved in the Guildhall Library.

Two portions of pavement, one of herring-bone type to the W., and one of tesserae to the E., were found on the site between Whittington Avenue and East India House (Plan A 46) at some uncertain date [Plan in Guildhall Library, Add. Prints, p. 96].

In December, 1924, a small excavation in the basement of No. 77 (Plan A 53) exposed a wall of concrete, apparently Roman. The portion visible was 16 to 18 ft. below the street-level, and ran in a direction parallel to Mitre Street [Q.W.].

In 1925, in excavating the site of Lloyds, in the W. angle of Leadenhall Street and Lime Street (Plan A 45), Roman foundations and the lower courses of partition-walls were found [D. Buxton in Times, Aug. 24th, 1925]. These walls were on the W. side of the site; a Roman tiled floor was also found.

A writer in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1825 (II, 633), states that on the Roman level "a Roman road was discovered." Roach Smith speaks of this street as "abounding in the debris of buildings " [Arch., XXIX, 153].

Lombard Street. In 1785 considerable remains of a pavement of coarse red tesserae came to light at a depth of 10 to 15 ft., bedded in coarse mortar; the site was at the W. end of the street, nearly opposite St. Mary Woolnoth church. In laying the sewer in 1785, a series of remains of buildings (Fig. 46) were discovered between the W. end of the street and Birchin Lane (q.v.). Starting from the W. end the remains (Plan A 88) in the sewer-trench were as follows:—Between Nos. 82 and 85, at a depth of 9 ft., a pavement of rough stones and 3 ft. lower another pavement of "small irregular bricks," red, black and white and mostly 2 in. by 1½ in.; the pavement was about 20 ft. from E. to W. Farther E. was a wall about 10 ft. high and 18 ft. long and in it two flues, one semi-circular and one rectangular; the top of this wall was 10 ft. from the surface. Between the houses 72 and 82 were large fragments of tessellated and other pavements, with channelled tiles and coloured stucco. Near the post-office, on the N. side of the sewer, at a depth of 14 ft. was a Roman wall, with 2 ft. of "rough work" at the top and then regular layers of flat bricks at smaller intervals. Near this wall but not more than 9 ft. below the surface, was a pavement of flat tiles. Opposite the house No. 64, on the S. side of the sewer, at a depth of 20 ft. was "a piece of solid arch work composed of stones of irregular form." Walls of the same material as that opposite the post-office were found on the S. side of the sewer nearly opposite the end of Birchin Lane, and on the N. side, near the houses Nos. 59, 57 and 55. Opposite the houses numbered 55 and 58 two walls composed of the same materials crossed the sewer; they were about 2½ ft. thick [Arch., VIII, 117, with sketch-plan; Gent. Mag., 1785, II, 845; 1807, I, 415; Allen, Hist, of London, I, 26]. The lower pavement at the W. end of the street was again uncovered in 1840 [Price, Nat. Safe Dept., 25].

Fig. 46. Remains found in Lombard Street, 1785. From Arch., VIII.

In 1839 a tessellated pavement was observed at a depth of 8 ft. running under the present street, Roman remains extending beneath it [Illus. Rom. Lond., 59]. In 1868 a pavement 17 or 18ft. below the street-level was found on the site of No. 25 Lombard Street (Plan A 90), above which were dupondii "of the Fabia Gens" (sic), Nero, and Antoninus Pius (the latter dating A.D. 144, with figure of Britannia) [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., XXIV, 178, 294]. In 1873, various Roman walls of rag-stone and tile were traced in Plough Court, on the premises of Allen, Hanbury and Co. [Price, Rom. Antiq. Nat. Safe Dept, 26].

In the autumn of 1925, on a site at the N. angle of Lombard Street and Gracechurch Street (Plan A 91) was found, about 13 ft. below the modern ground-level, a series of walls (Plate 43 and Fig. 47) running at a slight angle with the N. frontage of Lombard Street. The building uncovered consisted of a corridor or gallery with a wall, apparently solid, on the S. side and a series of rectangular brick piers on the N. side, the distance between the two lines being about 8¼ ft. and the piers being about 16 ft. from centre to centre. One pier had a short length of broken wall adjoining it about the middle of the N. face; a further piece of wall running approximately N. and S. was found a short distance to the N. and under Gracechurch Street; this wall had been plastered and painted. Two complete piers and part of a third were found; they were entirely of brick set in red mortar and stood on rubble foundations. The southern wall was of rubble alternating with courses of brick on the N. face and was set in yellow mortar. There were slight traces of a mortar bed, probably for a pavement, in the area of the corridor and a few inches above the level of the footings of the piers. There is some doubt if the solid wall and the series of piers were parallel or not, but it seems evident that they co-existed and the divergence was in any case not great [Lond, and Midd. Arch. Soc. Trans., N.S., V, 317, plan]. What was perhaps a continuation of this solid wall was encountered in 1921 in the middle of Gracechurch Street; it was 4½ ft. thick [Ibid, N.S., IV, 332]. N. of the wall were a series of what were probably floor-levels.

Fig. 47.

London Bridge Approach. In making sewers in 1831 under the line of approach to new London Bridge the "transverse section commenced of the eminence which rises from Thames Street towards the heart of the city.'' The excavation was as deep as low-water mark, 50 ft. below the present surface of the rest of the hill. "In the course of the above operation, and of preparing for the construction of the northern land arches of the new bridge, three distinct lines of embankment were discovered . . . . one of the lines of embankment, lying 20 ft. under the S. abutment of the Thames Street land arch of the new bridge (Plan A 101), was of a peculiarly massive character being formed of the trunks of oak trees and roughly squared with the axe, and in all probability the work of the Romans." On the hill, about 100 yards N. of this work, the following discoveries were made: ". . . . When the labourers had penetrated through a factitious accumulation of soil to the depth of about 17 ft. they came to a stratum of argillaceous nature earth about 2½ ft. in depth, in which numerous marks of Roman occupation began to make their appearance; sinking 20 ft. still deeper, thro' a stratum of fine red gravel, they came to the bed of clay in which are found the fossil remains. . . . The first discovery of Roman remains which I personally witnessed, was on 21st April last, when the excavation had arrived at the wall with the lancet windows, the S. boundary of St. Michael's churchyard. The singularly formed urn [Pl. XLIV, 8— indented urn, no base, bad fig.] was then taken out of the stratum of native loam and two coins of Vespasian, one of which is in tolerable preservation. As the labourers proceeded with their task they found the native gravel bed and its superstrata intersected by numerous holes and square pits, probably ancient cesspools or cisterns; in these as in surrounding soil, were many Roman potsherds" (figs.). "As the excavations drew near the line of the street of Eastcheap, the fragments of . . . . Samian, became plentiful" (mortaria, jugs, amphoræ, etc.); "and party walls, composed of rag-stone, of buildings which had evidently aligned with the present street, were discovered; these walls were covered with wood ashes, and about them were found many portions of green molten glass and of the red Samian wares discoloured by fire." A "piece of plain red tessellated pavement, about 14 ft. square, laid open just under church (Plan A 100) in Crooked Lane." In the old wall with the lancet windows were "some massive fragments of Roman architecture, being of a sort of sandstone, the surface of which had been painted . . . . a bright red" [A. J. Kempe in Arch., XXIV, 190–96, see also Gent. Mag., 1831, 1, 387; 1832, II, 516; and Herbert, Hist, of St. Michael, Crooked Lane]. A fuller description of the "embankments" is given by William Knight; he states that the ancient embankment of the Thames was of Kentish rag and Purbeck stone, similar to the piers of Old London Bridge, and backed by chalk and "madrepore." Within this embankment, for nearly 100 ft., were several small jetties forming docks and quays. "Proceeding northwards the ground was found to be a mass of marsh from the river's edge about 300 ft. onwards. . . . It shelved up towards Thames Street and was excavated from 10 to 12 ft. deep at that part," for the S. abutment of the arch over Thames Street; "here the first timber embankment (Plan A 101) was discovered . . . . about 10 ft. below the surface of the ground. It was traced to a depth of more than 20 ft. and was formed of large solid trees of oak and chesnut, about 2 ft. square, roughly hewn, having strong timber waleings spiked to the piles. . . . The second embankment (Plan A 102) was discovered about 60 ft. beyond the N. side of the Thames (presumably should read Thames Street), towards the site of Crooked Lane and was of a completely different character from the one just described. It was composed of elm piles, from 8 to 10 ft. long, closely driven together and being farther inshore than the former, and of a totally different description must have been constructed at some other period" [Arch., XXV, 601].

London Wall. In 1866 a large area (Plan A 61) was excavated, under the observation of Gen. Pitt-Rivers, in which great quantities of bones of animals were found in a layer of peat about 10 to 13 ft. below the surface, including remains of Bos longifrons, red deer, wild boars, and wild goats. A number of roughly-cut piles (Fig. 48) with decayed tops were also found in the peat, some in rows, others in groups, bound together by planks, one of which had nails in it. Here were found tiles (one with P.PR.BR), much Gaulish pottery, Upchurch ware, bronze pins, styli, iron knives, leather shoes and sandals, and coins of Vespasian, Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius. The explanation of these discoveries involves some difficulties, but it has been supposed that they represent pile-dwellings [Times, Oct. 20th, 1866; Anthrop. Rev., V (1867), p. LXXI, ff., with plan and sections; Arch. Journ., XXIV, 61; Munro, LakeDwellings of Europe, 494].

In 1880 a supposed Roman road was unearthed at the top of Throgmorton Avenue (Plan A 60), crossing it diagonally (presumably inside the Wall), together with various remains: a bronze statuette, an unknown implement, fragments of various sorts of pottery, glass, sandals, keys, nails, spindlewhorls, bones of animals, and shells [Arch. Journ., XXXVII, 331].

Lothbury. About 1834, remains of a tessellated pavement were found opposite Founders' Court (Plan A 67), at a depth of about 11 ft., also various iron tools; and at a lower level a leather sandal, black and red pottery, coins of Domitian and Antoninus Pius, and wooden piles as in Prince's Street. Kelsey states that about 90 ft. of the sewer in Lothbury "was tunnelled between the walls of a very ancient passage, the floor of which was paved with coarse red tesserae the whole lying on [the] layer of bog-earth . . . . Masses of piling, with the wall-planking still on the face next to the channel, were cut through, and at the S.E. angle of Grocers' Hall (where the manhole now is) a bed of very hard concrete pavement, covered with a thin coat of red earth, was found at a depth of 17ft 6 in." [Arch., XXVII, 147; Morgan, Rom, Brit. Mosaic Pavements, 181; Kelsey, Descr. of Sewers, 112]. Freshfield (Proc. Soc. Antiq., XVI, 36) states that a Roman pavement was found under Lothbury opposite the church (Plan A 66) at a depth of about 16 to 17 ft. In 1843, at the S.W. corner of Tokenhouse Yard (Plan A 65), and at a depth of from 12 to 18 ft., were found curiously-fluted piles, with fragments of Gaulish pottery including CACAS.M., coins of Vespasian and Nero, etc. [Gent. Mag., 1843, II, 532; Rom. Brit. Rem., I, 203].

Remains (Fig. 49) of a Roman building were discovered in March, 1927, during excavations for the extention of Messrs. Brown, Shipley and Co.'s premises in Founders' Court, Lothbury (Plan A 68). The remains consisted of part of a tessellated pavement discovered at a depth of 19 ft. 8 in. beneath the arched entrance to the main premises at the N. end of Founders' Court. The fragment inspected consisted of a border 3½ ft. wide, incomplete, at both ends of a pit 6½ ft. long and made of red tesserae, each about 1 in. square. At the S.E. corner of the pit was visible a fragment of the margin of a mosaic pattern of black or dark tesserae, each about ½ in. square. Close inside the western margin of the pit the red border came to a well-defined end indicating the former presence of a wall here running approximately from N. to S., but inclined slightly more towards the N.E. than the main lines of the modern structure. The width of the wall could not be ascertained. Immediately adjoining this piece of pavement on the E. side another fragment had been found and destroyed earlier in the month. It certainly belonged to the same floor. When pulled up by the workmen the fragment first described was found to consist of about an inch of fine pink cement in which the tesserae were set above 2 in. or more of rough gravel concrete, all very hard.

The area (about 20 sq. ft.), which had been effectively sealed by this pavement, was then excavated under supervision. It was found to consist of nearly 3½ ft. of alluvial deposit containing much Roman rubbish in the shape of burnt and broken animal bones (including a horn of Bos longifrons), oyster shells and about 25 pieces of pottery of 1st and early 2nd-century date. Most of the pottery was certainly of the 1st century (Samian forms, 18, 15/17, early 27 and either 29 or transitional 37; and plain pottery with graphitecoated surface. A few fragments were of the period Trajan-Hadrian, namely, form 46, 37 with tripod ornament; and a black mortarium of late 1st or early 2nd-century type). None of the pottery is likely to have been later than c. A.D. 125, and it was sufficiently abundant to suggest that the pavement was built not later than the first half of the 2nd century—probably before, rather than during, the Antonine period.

Fig. 48. Pile-structures S. of London Wall. From Anthrop. Rev., V.

Towards the W. the ground dipped from the direction of the pavement towards what had apparently been the bed of a feeder of the Walbrook. The black alluvium here went down to an even greater depth and produced pottery also mostly of lst-century date. A few feet to the S.W. of the site of the building another pit revealed remains of a pile-structure within an area about 40 ft. by 10 ft. The stumps of upwards of a dozen piles were found apparently in position in this area, but their position was unfortunately not recorded. They stood in the black alluvium which goes down to a depth of about 22 ft. below the present streetlevel, and is here in some cases about 6 ft. thick. On the W. side of the site a certain amount of rubble (chalk and flint) foundation was found standing on the black sludge, it included the rough base of a wall about 4¼ ft. thick, running approximately N. and S. and having a pink cement pavement on either side 13½ ft. below the modern pavement-level and a further pink pavement capping the wall 7 in. higher up. There were probable indications of the pilae of a hypocaust on the W. side of this wall, which appeared to turn W. about the middle of the site. A double row of piles continued the line of this return wall, towards the E. [R.E.M.W. and A.C.].

Fig. 49.

Love Lane, Wood Street (Plan A 139). In excavations at Messrs. Brown, Davis and Co., near the City Press, the discovery of a well was reported in 1881, "probably of Roman origin," but there is nothing to show that it is not mediæval [Antiq., III, 184].

Ludgate Square (formerly Holiday Yard, Creed Lane). Bagford, writing in 1714–15, says: "Such another [Roman Aqueduct] was found after the fire by Mr. Span an ancient Citizen in Holyday Yard, Creed Lane (Plan A 173), in digging the foundations for a new Building, and this was carried round a Bath that was built in a round Forme with Nitches at an equal Distance for Seats" [Leland, Coll. (ed. Hearne), I, LXVI; see also Stow, Survey (ed. Strype), II, App. V, 24].

Maiden Lane (Garlick Hill). On a City Sewers Plan [II, 58] dated March, 1848, is a note of the discovery of a Roman pavement, with a plan of the position (Plan A 160), but no further particulars.

Mansion House. (Plan A 128). Objects have been found, from time to time, including a mosaic pavement, in 1870, now in the Guildhall.

In 1917 a wall of rubble was exposed in a cellar below the Mansion House. It was rendered in cement on the W. side and had, on the same side, a projecting shelf with a sloping top of tiles. The base of the wall was 17 ft. below the surface and apparently rested on piles [S. Perks, Hist. of the Mansion House, 3; pl. 1 and plan 1].

Mark Lane (Plan A 14). A letter of Mr. Bagford (1715) states that in Mark Lane, 40 years since, a brick was found 28 ft. below the pavement; it was the key-brick of an arch and had a relief on the front said to represent Samson setting fire to the foxes' tails. Near the same place were dug up many quarters of wheat burnt very black [Leland, Coll. (ed. Hearne) (1774) I, LXXI].

A Roman pavement (Plan A 15) was found in 1871, "at the back of the archway adjoining the premises situated at No. 27 Mark Lane." It was of common red tesserae, about 12 ft. square and 8 ft. below ground level and was left in situ. Another account says it was 7 ft. below the surface and measured 11 ft. by 6 ft. [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., XXVII, 514; Illus. Lond. News, May 13th, 1871, with illustration].

Fig. 50.

Miles Lane. About 1920–21, excavations on the site of Nos. 2–4 on the E. side of Miles Lane (Plan A 103), revealed considerable remains of Roman constructions (Fig. 50). On the northern part of the site was the southern end of a rectangular building 31 ft. wide and with external walls 3¼ ft. thick, entirely faced with brick work, but patched in places with rag-stone; the foundation was composed of 2 ft. of flints above 2 ft. of chalk. Within the building was a longitudinal wall enclosing a brick drain with a corbelled covering. The southern part of the site had considerable remains of an extensive timber-construction, in the nature of a wharf. The main line of this construction extended E. and W. some 23 ft. to the S. of the brick building just described, and consisted of solid balks of timber laid one upon the other, the lowest being 27 in. by 24 in. and the others about 21 in. by 16 in. This main timber wall had a series of similar timber walls at right angles both to the N. and S., those to the N. being probably spaced fairly regularly, some 7 to 9 ft. apart; the timbers of these subsidiary walls were of smaller scantling than those of the main line on to which they were jointed. To the S. of the main line two groups of piling, some camp sheathing and what may have been a shoot were discovered. Traces of timber construction at the S. end of the brick building seemed to indicate that constructions of similar nature had been destroyed when the building was erected. The bulk of the datable pottery found within the main line of timbering, was of potters working before A.D. 100, and so far as could be observed later pottery extending to the middle of the 2nd century was found to the S. of the main line [Arch., LXXI, 62–72].

In 1926, the corresponding site on the W. side of Miles Lane (Plan A 104), between that street and Arthur Street, was excavated. All over the site were found remains of timber constructions, one line of which was nearly continuous with the main line on the E. side of Miles Lane. The construction on this site, however, was of less heavy character and no general scheme could be made out. Traces were found, however, of a further line of timberwalling some 23 ft. in advance and to the S. of the main line [Q.W., R.E.M.W. and A.C.].

Mincing Lane. In 1824, in making a sewer, the remains of a hypocaust were met with, opposite the gateway (Plan A 10) into the Clothworkers' Hall, at a depth of 18 ft. The arrangement of the flues is described as being very perfectly preserved; in one of them a vase full of charcoal was found [Kelsey, Descr. of Sewers, 83].

Part of a stone mortar and the base and capital of a column were found on W. side of the lane (Plan A 11) in 1850, between two floors 2 ft. apart; the upper, 12 ft. below the surface, was a tessellated pavement, the lower was composed of gravel, lime, and pounded tiles [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., VI. 442, pl. 35, VII, 87].

Excavations for Capel's premises in Dunster Court (Plan A 12) in 1856 yielded, at a depth of 12 to 25 ft., chalk, rag-stone, and brick earth in four layers, supposed to belong to dwellings formed with "cob" walls, and with these, human bones and fragments of pottery; below, at a depth of about 20 ft., was a well and leading to it a curved pathway paved with pieces of tile or tesserae set in lime. In the well, were potsherds, probably mediæval [Arch. Journ., XIII, 274].

In 1891, during the rebuilding of the Commercial Sale Rooms (Plan A 13), a square "pot-hole" of Roman (?) date was discovered, constructed in regular layers of chalk about 7 ft. deep, in area 4 by 7 ft. It contained a green jug, a wooden bowl, a dog's skull, and eggs of a duck and a hen, both perfect. The "green jug" seems to be open to doubt [Daily Graphic, 21 October, 21 November, 1891, hence Antiq., XXV, 21].

In June, 1927, a section of a Roman wall was discovered under the pavement on the W. side of Mincing Lane about 41 ft. S.E. of the junction with Fenchurch Street (Plan A 10). The wall was 2 ft. thick and ran approximately N. and S.; the foundation was of rag-stone and chalk and the wall had apparently a double bonding-course of bricks, 16½ ft. below the street-level. The wall probably belonged to the building with a hypocaust, discovered in 1824 [R.E.M.W. and A.C.].

Monument. In 1833, the following discoveries were made in sinking a cesspool to the S. of the Monument, "and at the back of some newly erected fruit warehouses in Pudding Lane (Plan A 24). The depth of the cesspool about 22 ft. from the surface of the pavement at that part of the hill. After removing the old walls, most of which were evidently the original foundations of the buildings prior to the Great Fire, was found an encrustation which was spread over the surface of the ground, and consisted of stone and brick broken very fine and mixed with lime; it was about 9 in. deep and excessively hard. This was clearly an artificial footing on which the walls had been erected; beneath was a loose mixed ground; below this was discovered the remains of an aqueduct running towards the river Thames southward, and communicating with a bath or tank northward. The sides of the aqueduct were composed chiefly of yellow Roman tiles (some were red); they measured 16 to 17 in. in length by 11½ in. in width and were 2 in. thick; the bottom consisted of similar tiles turned up a little on each side, measuring in the clear 12 in. by 18 in. in length. The S. wall of the tank was built with similar tiles, was coated inside with plaster and lined with small pieces of stone ½ in. square, cemented together similar to tessellated work. . . . There was also a transverse watercourse on the E. side of the aqueduct, consisting of semi-circular tiles 17 in. long and 4 in. in the clear diameter, placed one on the other, forming a complete barrel. The joints between the tiles of the tank and aqueduct were an inch in thickness." "The sides and bottom of the cistern were tessellated with small cubes of alabaster or marble" [Gent. Mag., 1834, I, 95].

Monument Street. In 1887, between Pudding Lane and Botolph Lane, about 150 ft. E. of the Monument (Plan A 25), in the course of demolitions for the new street from Fish Street Hill to Billingsgate Market, at a depth of 12 ft., a portion of an inscribed pavement was found. "The pavement was laid upon a bed of concrete 12 in. thick. . . . The plain surface was of ½-in. tesserae, and the letters of smaller black tesserae." The pavement measured 4 ft. by 2 ft. 6 in.; it broke in pieces when found and is now lost. A drawing by H. Hodge is preserved in the Library of the Soc. of Antiquaries [Brown portfolio] and is reproduced, Fig. 88, p. 176. [Academy, Aug. 13th, 1887, p. 109, Sept. 3rd, p. 155; Proc. Soc. Antiq. (Ser. 2), XII, 128; Arch. Journ., XLV, 184; Ephem. Epigr., VII, 276, No. 817; for the inscription, see p. 176].

Moorgate Street. About 1835–36, near the Swan's Nest Public House in Great Swan Alley (Plan A 136) on the Coleman Street side of the excavation presumably that for the new Moorgate Street) a pit was discovered; it was 2¾ to 3 ft. square, boarded on each side with planks placed upright but discontinued towards the bottom, where the pit became circular; it contained "a store of earthen vessels." They seem to have been closely packed in a horizontal position, and their capacity varied from a quart to two gallons, some larger but in fragments; some were of dark clay, with borders of reticulated patterns. With them was a small bowl of red ware, with leaf decoration in slip on the rim (form 35, Dragendorff), a small brass coin of Allectus, one iron hook, and a bucket handle, figured in Illus. Rom. Lond., 142 [Arch., XXVII, 148; Lond. and Midd. Arch. Soc. Trans., III, 506; Soc. Antiq. MS. Min. XXXVII, 57]. See also King's Arms Yard.

Nicholas Lane (Plan A 93). A "sepulchral urn" of dark-coloured clay, containing burnt clay and animal matter (?) was found in 1847 about 16 ft. below the surface "in the immediate vicinity of a dwelling-house decidedly Roman, in the walls of which, at regular intervals, appeared openings, containing decayed wood, probably of joists, doorposts, etc." The urn "contained portions of charcoal and small pieces of iron and lead, besides portions of unburned bones of some smaller animal" [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., II, 341; Coll. Antiq., I, 146, pl. 49].

In 1850, an inscription (see p. 170) was found at the depth of between 11 and 12 ft. (Plan A 96). A note on a City Sewers Plan (II, 119, with sketch of inscription) of July, 1850, reads: "When excavating for a sewer in Nicholas Lane we met with an old wall, 30 ft. from the line of frontage in Cannon Street, the quoin-end of which stood in Nicholas Lane, about 7 ft. thick, 9 ft. from the surface to the top of the wall, built of Kentish rag, chalk and flints. The foundation-stone of this wall, under the quoin-end, was 3 ft. long by 2½ ft. wide and 12 in. thick. . . . the lettered face of the stone lay flat upon the earth" [Illus. Rom. Lond. p. 29, No. 11; Coll. Antiq., III, 257; Roach Smith, Retrospections II, 198].

About 1920, in repairs to a sewer in the S. part of Nicholas Lane (Plan A 95), a pavement of coarse red tesserae was cut through; below it was the burnt layer which extends over much of this part of the city [Arch., LXXI, 58].

Pancras Lane (Plan A127). Bones, burnt wood, and small pieces of pavement were found in making some cellars in 1794 [Gent. Mag., 1795, II, 986; Allen, Hist. of Lond., I, 29].

Paternoster Row (Plan A 176). About 1834–6 a shaft was sunk, opposite Paternoster Row, to a depth of 18 ft., until "operations were checked by a stone wall of intense hardness running towards the centre of St. Paul's." Finds included coins of Vespasian and Domitian, a Gaulish dish with stamp OF. MODESTI (in British Museum) and iron tools. In the wall were cemented two large sea-shells [Arch., XXVII, 150]. In 1839–41, at a depth of 12 ft., a pavement was found extending for 40 ft., with birds and beasts in compartments within a border of guilloche and rosettes; this was subsequently destroyed. With it were found amphoræ, glass vessels, and bone hairpins, and at a somewhat greater depth a skeleton in a framework of tiles as at Bow Lane [Ibid., XXIX, 155; Roach Smith, Illustrations, 57–58]. In 1843 in erecting the Religious Tract Society's premises, at the corner of Canon Row (Plan A 177), "a small portion of a tessellated pavement consisting of the small white and grey tesserae was found at the N.E. corner and apparently extended beneath the road," with pottery including the stamp ADVOCISI and coins (Claudius, Faustina, Commodus) [Gent. Mag., 1843, II, 81; Rom. Brit. Rem., I, 200].

A piece of red tessellated pavement has been re-set in front of No. 27, Ivy Lane.

Paternoster Square (formerly NewgateMarket. In rebuilding the premises of Messrs. Kegan, Paul, Trench and Co. at the (W.) corner of Paternoster Square and Rose Street (Plan A 179), in 1883, in excavating for the foundations of party walls in the Paternoster Square frontage "a quantity of Roman pavement was discovered at a depth of 17 ft. below the ground line" [Builder, 1883, II, 226].

At the N.W. corner (Plan A 178) were found in 1884, at a depth of 16 ft., part of a plain pavement and various forms of tiles, including flue tiles and hypocaust pillars; some of the flat tiles were scored with patterns [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., XL. 123, 210].

An excavation in May, 1925, on the site of Nos. 26 and 27 (Plan A 180) exposed, in the western portion, a Roman rubbish pit, apparently dating from the end of the 1st century [Q.W.].

Poultry. On the site of the Union Bank in St. Mildred's Court (Plan A 129), in 1867, part of a pavement was found 18 ft. below the surface. "It comprised a square enclosing a circle; the central ornament was a vase . . . . around the vase there appeared portions of a tree with foliage, also an object resembling an archway, with embattled figures and other objects . . . .; around the whole were two simple bands of black tesserae separating the circle from an elaborate scroll with foliage and flowers . . . . at each corner a rose or other flower, with eight petals; from the centre of each flower there springs in opposite directions two branches which unite with a leaf possibly a lotus . . . . the entire design is bordered by the guilloche in seven intertwining bands of black, red, brown and white tesserae." The pavement was laid on concrete with a hypocaust. Morgan, [Rom. Brit. Mosaic Pavements, 193; Lond. and Midd. Arch. Soc. Trans., III, 217; Price, Bucklersbury Pavement].

Fig. 51.

A fragment of another pavement with the figure of a monster is preserved at the London Museum. It is stated to have been found in Poultry, but there seems little or no doubt that it is modern work.

In August, 1925, in clearing a site on the W. side of Chapel Court, Poultry (Plan A 130), remains of an extensive series of pile-structures (Fig. 51) were uncovered. The majority of the piles on the southern part of the site were not sufficiently regular in position to give any indication of their purpose, but farther N. was a series of groups which appeared to represent long rectangular structures enclosed with boarding or sheathing. The northern line of these structures was about 52 ft. back from the frontage line in Poultry, and the three of which remains survived were regularly spaced at about 12 ft. from centre to centre. It was obvious from the deep deposit of black mud that the site had been formerly occupied by the bed of a stream; the piles were roughly squared, pointed at the ends and were driven into the blue clay below the mud deposit. The regular spacing of the structures would seem to imply something in the nature of a bridge, leaving space for the passage of water between the piers. In the black mud were found some pieces of Samian, including one with the stamp MAIOR. I, part of a wooden bowl, fragments of leather, etc. [A.C.].

Prince's Street (Plan A 132). Wooden piles found in this street appear to belong to the ancient embankment of the Walbrook [Arch., XXVII, 143; Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., VIII, 57].

Pudding Lane (Plan A 23). A wall of tiles and rag-stone and a hypocaust (Plate 44) were partially exposed in 1836–41. "In the middle of Pudding Lane, running to the bottom, and, as the workmen told me, even across Thames Street, is a strong wall, formed of layers of red and yellow tiles, and rag-stones, which appear to have appertained to a building of considerable extent. The hypocaust belonging thereto was partly laid open as shown with the adjoining wall in the engraving" (PI. XVIII, shows a wall 2 ft. 8 in. thick and about 8 ft. from it 10 pillars in two rows parallel to it— of brick) [Arch., XXIX, 154 pl. 18].

Queen Street (Plan A 158). In excavations for a sewer in Queen Street in July, 1842, at a short distance from Watling Street, a fine piece of Roman wall running directly across the street, was exposed to view . . . built of flat red tiles, embedded in solid and compact mortar. Several others lower down the street were also discovered." Near this wall was found a fine bronze figure of an archer, now in the British Museum [Arch., XXX, 543, pl. 22; Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., XXIV, 75; Illus. Rom. Lond., pl. 20, p. 71; Fairholt, Miscell. Graphica, pl. 8]. E. B. Price records that: "In June and July last (1843), a new sewer was carried through Queen Street between Thames Street and Watling Street. Of the remains of the Roman period which came under my own observation I may briefly enumerate the following. There were numerous fragments of fresco painting, chiefly red and yellow but remarkably brilliant, some portion in blue or bright slate colour, a fragment of the latter exhibiting the lower part of the human figure. Cinerary urns of a very rude style of art; in one of them the remains of human bones adhered so firmly as to have the appearance of being part and parcel of the vessel. . . . . Among the remains, when forcibly separated from the vessel, was easily recognized a portion of the nasal bone. There were five other jars. Of the contents of the other four, when first found by the workmen, I have no means of judging—there was nothing remaining but mud and fragments of charcoal. A portion of a tessellated pavement, composed of small tesserae, white, red and slatecoloured, and which evidently formed part of a pavement of some elegance, belonging, in all probability, to an edifice of importance, judging from the remains of an immense wall with its layer of bond-tiles (15½ in. by 10¼ in. by 1½ in.)." Much pottery, etc., and a few coins, including a second brass of Nero, were also found [Gent. Mag., 1843, I, 21; Rom. Brit. Rem., I, 196]. Roach Smith in 1841 records the finding of a pavement of red tesserae opposite Well Court, 14 ft. square, at a depth of 13 ft., and two gold armlets [Illus. Rom. Lord., 127]; he mentions that several walls cut right across the street [Arch., XXIX, 155; Proc. Soc. Antiq., II, 93].

Queen Victoria Street. Numerous discoveries were made in 1872–73, during the construction of this street, the most noteworthy being those on the premises of the National Safe Deposit Company, No. 1 at the angle of Walbrook (Plan A 126). Mr. Price states that finds of pottery and coins were made at a depth of 32 ft., 2 ft. beneath an oaken frame-work 3 ft. square, above which was much wooden piling. He also mentions a perfect globular amphora (see his pl. 4), 5 ft. to the S.W. In a trench "parallel to Charlotte Row there appeared, at a depth of about 25 ft. from the surface level, a timber flooring supported by huge oak timbers, 12 in. by 12 in. square and running parallel with the stream [the Walbrook]. This was at the S. corner and may have indicated a stage or landing-place at this portion of the line. Adjoining this were evidences of a macadamized roadway which extended in a line with Bucklersbury until it reached the apparent course of the brook. Upon the opposite side similar indications appeared and the remains possibly indicate a roadway which here crossed the stream. . . . In the trench parallel with Bucklersbury a seam of ballast was discovered at a depth of 35 ft. In this were quantities of wooden piles, many of which had been driven into the clay prior to the silting up around them of this sand and shingle. The greatest depth from which these piles were drawn was upwards of 40 ft. from the street-level. Near to the spot marked F upon the plan (Fig. 52) the greatest number of the antiquities were seen. Here appeared fragments of bricks, tiles, and other indications of buildings, associated with a vast number of coins, pottery, and personal objects both of iron and bronze. All bore indications of fire: portions of metal and glass were collected which by extreme heat had been fused and melted into misshapen forms. At this spot there was also discovered a large quantity of wheat. This, though retaining the form of the grain, was blackened, and much of it completely carbonized by fire. In the trench A to B was observed a portion of a coarse description of flooring composed of broken tiles made up by Roman concrete; from its situation it apparently belonged to the buildings connected with the tessellated pavement discovered some three years ago" [J. E. Price, Nat. Safe Dep., p. 53]. See also Bread Street Hill, Bucklersbury, Trinity Lane and Watling Street.

Fig. 52. From Rom. Antiq. Nat. Safe Dep. Premises, J. E. Price.

Fig. 53. Remains under Royal Exchange. From Cat. Antiq. Royal Exchange, Tite.

Royal Exchange (Plan A 73). Excavation on the site in 1841 is described by Roach Smith [Arch., XXIX, 267 ff.] as follows:—"On advancing to the centre of the area [of the site of the Royal Exchange] a more prominent feature was exhibited. Here the foundations of buildings were laid open in wellconstructed walls, running in a diagonal direction from N.E. to [S.W.]. At about 30 ft. farther W., with other remains (Fig. 53) of foundations, was discovered a mass of masonry composed of tiles and mortar. Two sides of this fragment, when first found, still retained the paintings in fresco, with which they had been ornamented; they were laid on a thick coat of stucco . . . . the ground of a pale pink colour, bordered by an egg-and-tongue pattern, surmounted by an elegant scroll . . . . Beneath this masonry was a layer of gravel, 2 ft. thick (19 ft. from the street-level) . . . . this layer of gravel, being taken away, the subsoil to the extent of 40 ft. by 50 ft. and to the depth of 19 ft. was found to be wholely foreign to the locality. It was composed almost entirely of animal and vegetable matter, apparently thrown in as refuse, from adjacent shops and houses. In one part of the pit were loads of oyster-shells, in another dross from the smith's forge, bones of cows, sheep and goats, matted together with ordure and interspersed with abundance of broken pottery, pieces of leather, portions of sandals, fragments of glass, lamps, instruments of iron, fibulæ, a strygil, coins and other objects. . . . . The coins discovered in this pit . . . . are chiefly of the second brass of Vespasian and Domitian, to the amount of nearly 12, with only a solitary instance of a later date in a plated denarius of Severus; these coins must necessarily have been deposited previously to the pit having been covered in for building on." Two of the knives found in this pit bore respectively the names OLONDVS.F. and P.BAS . . . . ILIF, with the small figure of a man in the middle of the name [see Roach Smith, Illus. of Rom. Lond., p. 140, pl. 37, corrected from Tite and for inscriptions see p. 175]. Tite adds the following items of information:—(1) the eastern portion of the site first excavated, supplied "very few relics of any considerable antiquity" whereas the middle and west yielded them in great quantity; (2) with regard to the coins found in the Roman rubbish-pit, he states that "those of Vespasian and Domitian are the most numerous, especially the latter; but though there are specimens of the coins of Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius and also of the two Empresses Faustina, there do not occur any pieces of the emperors of the 3rd century, excepting one of the third brass of Septimius Severus, which has been plated. There does not appear to be any reason for doubting that this coin was really found in the gravel-pit, from 20 to 30 ft. in depth, as the original title states, with three other pieces of Vespasian and Domitian, and if this be regarded as the latest coin enclosed there, that receptacle was, of course, covered over before A.D. 235. There is, however, a small coin of Gratianus capable of being positively assigned to A.D. 374, which was recovered after being taken away, and consequently bearing a more particular title—which probably more accurately indicates the time when the gravel-pit was closed up and built over" [Arch., XXIX, 267 ff.; XXXIX, 497; Illus. Rom. Lord., 12; Roach Smith, Retrospections, I, 129; Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., VII, 82; Archæologist, I, 200; Tite, Cat. Antiq. Roy. Exch., 1848 p. xliii,; Soc. Antiq. MS. Min. XXXVIII, 189, 195]. In the space (Plan A 74) in front of the Exchange, where Bank Buildings formerly stood, a Roman wall was found running in the direction of the Bank; near this was unearthed the fine vase now in the British Museum (see under Cornhill).

St. Dunstan's Hill (Plan A 18). "Urns," probably not cinerary, were found in 1824 under a pavement [Knight, Lond. (ed. Walford), I. 159]. In making a sewer (previous to 1840) some Roman pavement was cut through near to Cross Lane [Kelsey, Descr. of Sewers, 80; Herbert, Hist, of St. Michael, Crooked Lane, 19; said to be now in the Guildhall]. Part of a wall, on the premises of Messrs. Ruck, wine-merchants, was reported in 1863, of chalk and Kentish rag, 3½ ft. thick and 20 ft. below street-level [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., XIX, 63]. In the same year was found a well "of uncertain date," with chalk lining and fragments of pottery, wall-plaster, and flue-tiles. To the N.E., under the old wall of the churchyard, was found a "a mass of concrete and a cavity, which seemed to have been moulded upon a wooden coffin, and contained some human remains . . . . the concrete was of great hardness and contained portions of pounded brick; some roofing tiles, similar in shape to the ordinary Italian tiles, were laid in a slightly arched form over the grave" [Ibid., XX, 297, pl. 19]. This structure may well have been a Saxon burial as it closely resembles the tombs of the early archbishops found at St. Augustine's, Canterbury.

St. Helens, Little (now St. Helen's Place). In 1733, "was discover'd by some workmen a Roman pavement (Plan A 50), which by the inscription had been laid about 1700 years. The Work was Mosaick, and the Tiles not above an Inch square. Several human Bones of large size being found also, it seems to have been a burying Place of note" [Gent. Mag., 1733, 436]. The bones may well have been mediæval. This pavement is said to have had an inscription [Arch. Journ., XXXIII, 269], but it was never copied.

St. Martin le Grand (Plan A 149). The site was cleared in 1818 for the New Post Office, but the structural remains then found do not appear to have been of Roman date. A Roman tile inscribed P.P.BRI. LON was found here about 1845 [Arch. Journ., III, 69; Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., XIV, 337]. When the site was again cleared in 1913 traces of a Roman house were observed in the S.E. corner of the site; they consisted of "broken bricks, roofing-tiles, about 500 small pieces of painted plaster and a number of large pieces of claydaub, burnt hard by the conflagration which had destroyed the building." The house had apparently been built largely of wattle and daub. Near the site of this house the ground was covered with pits, which had possibly been dug for clay. They were filled with Roman rubbish, including coins from Claudius onwards. It was observed that the pits, as indicated by their contents, were generally earlier at the southern end of the site than at the northern end. A well and traces of a footpath were also found in this area [Arch., LXVI, 246].

St. Mary Axe. Tessellated pavement was found in 1849, while digging for sewers at the corner of Bevis Marks (Plan A 52) near the Blue Pig; since destroyed [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, V, 90]. A wall of rag-stone, bonded with tiles, was found in 1909 in the middle of the road, at the junction of St. Mary Axe with Camomile Street and Bevis Marks (Plan A 52). It ran parallel with and 40 ft. from the city-wall [Arch., LXIII, 321].

St. Mary-le-Bow, Cheapside (Plan A 146). "The parochial church of St. Mary le Bow in Cheapside, requir'd to be re-built after the Great Fire:— Upon opening the Ground, a Foundation was discern'd firm enough for the new intended Fabrick, which (on further Inspection, after digging down sufficiently and removing what Earth or Rubbish lay in the Way) appear'd to be the Walls, with the Windows also, and the Pavement of a Temple, or Church, of Roman Workmanship, intirely bury'd under the Level of the present Street. . . . he sunk about 18 Feet deep through made-ground, and then imagin'd he was come to the natural Soil and hard Gravel, but upon full examination, it appear'd to be a Roman Causeway of rough Stone, close and well rammed, with Roman Brick and Rubbish at the Bottom, for a Foundation, and all firmly cemented. This Causeway was four feet thick. . . . . He then concluded to lay the Foundation of the Tower upon the very Roman Causeway, as most proper to bear what he had design'd, a weighty and lofty structure" [Wren, Parentalia, 265]. The architectural remains, referred to, are no doubt those of the Norman crypt of the church.

In 1915, excavations made in the crypt of Bow Church brought to light remains of two lines of planking and piles, about 4 ft. apart and below the Norman work. They were considered to imply the near neighbourhood of a small subsidiary stream perhaps running parallel to the Walbrook [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., N.S., XXI, 281].

St. Mary Woolnoth (Plan A 89). "Anno 1716, in digging Foundations of a new Church, to be erected where the Church of St. Mary Woolnoth in Lombard Street stood, at the Depth of about 15 Foot, and so lower to 22 Foot were found Roman vessels, both for sacred and Domestic Uses, of all Sorts, and in great Abundance, but all broken. And with all were taken up Tusks and Bones of Boars and Goats. As also many Meddals, and Pieces of Metals, some tesselated Works, a Piece of an Aqueduct, and at the very Bottom a Well filled up with Mire and Dirt" [Stow, Survey (ed. Strype), II, App. V. 24; Allen, Hist, of Lond., I, 25; Hughson, Hist, of Lond., I, 34; cf. Brayley, Beauties of England and Wales, X, pt. 1, 91].

St. Olave, Old Jewry (Plan A 133). Mr. F. W. Reader states that in 1888 a Roman pavement was found on this site at a depth of 16 ft., composed of red tesserae, and measuring 20 ft. by 3 ft. There was also a wall running parallel with the present line of frontage, 12 ft. below the surface, 12 ft. high and 3 ft. thick, but the foundations were not reached. Much of the soil was black mud, and contained Roman pottery and other relics [V. C. H. London, I, 124].

Fig. 54. From V.C.H. London, I.

St. Paul's Churchyard. The most noteworthy discovery here was that of the Roman pottery kilns, found when digging foundations at the N.W. corner of the cathedral (Plan A 174) in 1672, described in a MS. of John Conyers (Brit. Mus. Sloane MSS. 958, fol. 105). The depth is stated to have been 26 ft.; there were four kilns (Fig. 54) of the usual domical form, which are described as "made in the sandy loam, in the fashion of a cross foundation, of which only the one sketched was left standing. It was 5 ft. from top to bottom and of the same width, and had no other matter for its form and building but the outward loam, naturally crusted hardish by the heat burning the loam red, like brick; the floor in the middle supported by, and cut out of, loam, and helped with old-fashioned Roman tyles' shards, but very few, and such as I have seen used for repositories for urns, in the fashion of and like ovens. The kiln was full of the coarser sort of pots, so that few were saved whole, viz., lamps, bottles, urns and dishes." Drawings of some of these were given, and one jar at least, of a dark grey ware, appears to be of lst-century date [Illus. Rom. Lond., 79; Coll. Antiq., VI, 185; Walters, Ancient Pottery, II, 444; Proc. Soc. Antiq. (Ser. 2), XVI, 42; XXVI, 225; Stow Survey (ed. Strype), II, App. I, 23]. Strype gives the additional statement, which, if trustworthy, is not without significance, that " likewise thereabouts were found several moulds of Earth, some exhibiting Figures of Men, of Lions, of Leaves of Trees, and other Things. These were used to make Impressions of those things upon the Vessels." He also states that on the S. side of the church were found "several scalps of Oxen, and a large quantity of Boars' Tusks, with divers earthen Vessels, especially Paterae of different Shapes." Camden refers to a similar discovery of ox-scalps or oxheads in the reign of Edward I, and refers them to the Taurobolia celebrated in honour of Diana. He states that the precincts are called in the church records Camera Dianae, and it has always been a tradition that the site of St. Paul's represents that of a temple to that deity [Gough, Camden, II, 81; see also Malcolm, Lond. Rediv., III, 509; Milman, St. Paul's, 1 ff.; Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., XXVIII, 143, 237]. Malcolm, quoting from a MS. dissertation of Dr. Woodward, relates the discovery, to the S.W. of the cathedral, of a bronze statuette of Diana, 2½ in. high, in the habit of a huntress, with elaborately-plaited hair, and carrying a quiver [see also Allen, Hist, of Lond., I, 22]. Wren's account of the finds described by Strype is as follows:—"The Surveyor gave but little Credit to the common Story, that a Temple had been here to Diana . . . . meeting with no such Indications in all his Searches; but that the North-side of this Ground had been very anciently a great Buryingplace was manifest, for upon the digging the Foundations of the present Fabrick of St. Paul's, he found under the Graves of the latter Ages. [Saxon, British, and Roman]. In the same row (with the British) and deeper were Roman Urns intermixed. This was eighteen feet deep or more, and belonged to the Colony when Romans and Britains lived and died together. The most remarkable Roman Urns, Lamps, Lachrymatories, and Fragments of Sacrificing-vessels, etc., were found deep in the ground, towards the north-east corner of St. Paul's Church, near Cheapside; these were generally well wrought and embossed with various Figures and Devices, of the colour of the modern red Portugal ware some brighter like Coral, and of a Hardness equal to Chinaware, and as well glaz'd. Among divers Pieces which happened to have been preserved are a Fragment of a Vessel, in Shape of a Bason, whereon Charon is represented with his Oar in his Hand receiving a naked Ghost; a Patera Sacrificalis with an Inscription PATER. CLO, a remarkable small Urn of a fine hard Earth and leaden Colour, containing about half a Pint; many pieces of Urns with the names of the Potters embossed on the Bottoms, such as, for instance, ALBVCI, M. VICTORINVS, PATER, F. MOSSI. M, OF NIGRI, AGMAPILII.M, etc., a sepulchral earthen Lamp .... supposed Christian; and two lachrymatories of glass" [Parentalia, 265 ff.].

At the N.E. corner of the churchyard (Plan A 175) in 1841, a "domestic building" of some size was "intersected by the channel cut for a sewer." At a depth of 18 ft. was a hypocaust with pillars of tiles, supporting a tessellated pavement (since destroyed) on a substratum of mortar. The pavement has a variegated pattern of rosettes on a white ground. Coins of Constans, Constantius, Magnentius, Decentius, and Valens, were also found "beneath the ruins" [Arch., XXIX, 272; Archæologist, I, 220; Morgan, Rom. Brit. Mosaic Pavements, 185]. Another account states that the excavation "began at the N.E. corner of St. Paul's Churchyard (in front of the Cathedral Coffee House), and extended as far as Cannon Alley. ... At the commencement was found, at a depth of 19 or 20 ft., a pavement consisting of about fifty tiles, varying from 7 to 8 in. square, and four or five large ones, 23 in. square, about 3 in. thick. . . . A curious old sword was also discovered, about 3 ft. long (at what depth I have not been able to ascertain). It had evidently suffered from the action of an intense fire .... upon rubbing a portion of the blade near the hilt characters appeared. The only portions legible were, on one side IC, on the other SC." Other finds included a dagger, numerous fragments of Samian pottery, with the stamps REGALIS and BATERA, and copper coins of "Carausius, Constantius, Claudius, Nerva, Magnentius, Faustina, Domitian, Antoninus." Several fragments of mosaic pavement were also dug up, and vast quantities of human bones [E. B. Price, in Gent. Mag., 1841, II, 263; Rom. Brit. Rem., I, 216].

St. Peter's Hill, Upper Thames Street. In June, 1863, workmen excavating for drainage turned up portions of Roman brick and concrete and found a wall (Plan A 168) "3 ft. 8 in. thick at the base, being rubble to the height of 3 ft. from the footing, which stood in the gravel and sand of the old bed of the Thames. Then followed Roman bricks, in courses, to the further height of 3 ft. 10in.; then rubble again to the height of 2 ft. 2 in., diminishing in thickness from 3 ft. 6 in. to 2 ft. 9 in. at the top, which lay 5 ft. 10 in. below the surface of the ground, almost at the upper extremity of St. Peter's Hill. The wall, however, did not he in a direction parallel to Knightrider Street, which bends somewhat northward at that place. Careful measurements were therefore taken, both across the 'hill' and northward, at both ends of the line of wall, to the front of the houses on the N. side of Knightrider Street, so that its direction might be traced eastward or westward, to any other point where it might afterwards be traced. A few days afterwards .... a further portion was discovered on the northern side of the way in Great Knightrider Street, exactly in the direction indicted by the former measurements. . . . From this spot we found the wall tend to the exact line of the front wall of the parish church a little to the eastward" [Arch., XL, 48]. The position of these walls (Plan A 168) and of another at the bottom of St Peter's Hill (Plan A 169), is indicted on a City Sewers Plan of 1845 [I, 139], but the alignment of the two walls above described is not apparent from the plan. See also Lambeth Hill, Upper Thames Street.

St. Thomas Apostle. A pavement was seen by Roach Smith, in 1846, 7 ft. below street-level, a few yards from Queen Street (Plan A 159); it had a pattern in red, white, yellow, and black tesserae, and probably formed the border of a large pavement; it was subsequently destroyed [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., II, 350].

Towards the close of 1848 in Little St. Thomas Apostle (Plan A 156), in sewer digging, the remains of massive walls of chalk, stone and flat bricks, stucco with red and green frescoes, drain tiles and tegulae .... broken flue pipes, hand-mill, Samian, etc., oysters, and animals' horns were found. At depth of 16 ft. was a considerable quantity of charred wood and ashes [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., X, 195].

Seething Lane. Tessellated pavements were recorded in 1839–41, near St. Olave's Church (Plan A 16) and throughout the street, and lying on one of these was found the lower part of a sculpture (Plate 6) of the mother-goddesses [Arch., XXIX, 154].

Sermon Lane. On a City Sewers Plan of October, 1844 [I, 5], is plotted a wall encountered in excavating a sewer (Plan A 171). No particulars are given but the wall was parallel to the road and extended about 70 ft. apparently turning under the houses on the E. side at either end of the wall. The sewer was at a depth of 14 ft.

Sise Lane, Budge Row. In cutting Queen Victoria Street E. from Sise Lane (Plan A 124) and 14 ft. from the surface a portion of Roman flooring of plain red tesserae was found, fragmentary but in situ; adjoining it were remains of a wall, in the debris of which were many potsherds and painted stucco; the pavement had been destroyed by later wooden piling [Price, Bucklersbury Pavement, 1870, 69].

Suffolk Lane. In 1848, "Mr. C. Roach Smith reported the discovery of very extensive Roman remains in Suffolk Lane, city, opposite Merchant Taylors school (Plan A 108) .... and exhibited a coloured drawing .... of a very beautiful piece of mural painting found there, representing a winged youthful head. . . . The excavations which brought these and many other Roman remains to light were for a sewer. . . . It could also be ascertained that the excavators cut through the foundations and debris of a Roman dwelling house of the better class. . . . The pigments used in the composition of the paintings were chiefly vermilion, yellow ochre, colcothar, terra vert, and lime for white" [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., IV, 338; Proc. Soc. Antiq. (Ser. 1), II, 19]. Part of a pavement from this site was exhibited to the Society of Antiquaries in 1855 [Proc. (Ser. 1), III, 194]. At or near the S.E. angle of Suffolk Lane in 1863 was found a wall (Plan A. W 46) regarded as part of the RiverWall of the Roman town as described by Roach Smith and Tite [Arch., XL, 48].

Fig. 55.

Thames Street, Lower. In excavating for the new Coal Exchange (Plan A 19) in January, 1848, and later in 1859, the foundations of a Roman building (Fig. 55) were found at a depth of 12 ft. and a small portion of them is still visible in the basement of the Coal Exchange. The visible remains consist of a small chamber, 10¾ ft. wide with an apse at the W. end. It was heated by a pillared hypocaust (Plate 45), the pillars being built of bricks 8 in. square to a height of 2 ft.; the two uppermost bricks are somewhat larger, and carry flanged roofing tiles which support the cement floor. At the E. end of the compartment is the lower part of a brick recess, apparently a seat, the back wall of which was probably carried up as a partition-wall but was not bonded into the S. wall of the room. Opposite the back of the seat the S. wall is squared off to form the jamb of a doorway. The walls are entirely of bricks with the average dimensions of 18 in. by 12 in. by 1¼ to 1½ in. The mortar is white, and the mortar-joints average 1¼ to 1½ in. in thickness. Plans made when adjacent foundations were open show that a doorway immediately N. of the seat opened into a western, slightly longer chamber with an eastern apse and hypocaust, and N., S. and E. of these apsidal compartments were rectangular rooms of uncertain extent. W. of them was a drain or gutter composed of hollowed logs, several of which are now preserved in the Coal Exchange. When the foundations were laid bare, fragments of a stone cornice, a columncapital, window glass and coins of Nero, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius were found [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., IV, 38 ff., with plan and illustrations, 75; XXIX, 77; see also Proc. Soc. Antiq. (Ser. 1), I, 236, 240; Arch. Journ., V, 25 ff.; Morgan, Rom.-Brit. Mosaic Pavements, 186; Gent. Mag. 1848, I, 293; Rom.-Brit. Rem., I, 217; Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., XXIV, 295, with plate; Builder, 1859, 389, with sketches].

In making a sewer in 1834, nearly the whole line was found to be full of oak and chestnut piles but much closer and larger at the end of Botolph's Wharf gateway and warehouse (Plan A 21) than in other places; and westward, at the foot of Fish Street Hill (Plan A 22), were remains of substantial masonry (at the point where old London Bridge abutted) [Kelsey, Descr. of Sewers, 90]. Some years previously, in Thames Street (whether Upper or Lower is not stated), an ancient culvert, 2 ft. 6 in. wide by 2 ft. high, was found 18 ft. below the surface, formed of oak planks; many bone pins or bodkins were also found [Ibid., 71]. David Laing mentions timber embankments discovered at the Custom House (Plan A 20) in 1813 "at the several distances of 53, 86 and 103 ft. within the range of the existing wharf. At the same time about 50 ft. from the campshot or outer edge of the wharf-wall, a wall was discovered, erected E. and W., built with chalk-rubble and faced with Purbeck stone, which was considered to be either some part of the ancient defence of the city or some outwork of the Tower extending westwards. There was not, however, a trace of any important structure met with throughout the whole of the enormous area then laid open; but between the embankments were found the remains of buildings intermixed with pits and layers of rushes in different stages of decomposition " [D. Laing, Description of the New Custom House, 1818, 5–6; Cat. Antiq. Roy. Exch., XXIII; cf. Herbert, Hist. of St. Michael, Crooked Lane, 14].

For the portion of town-wall found in 1911 under No. 125, see p. 93.

Thames Street, Upper. The labourers employed in making sewers in the early part of the last century affirmed the existence of "an ancient paved causeway," 20 ft. below the present level [Gent. Mag., 1832, II, 10]. Roman remains have been reported in the neighbourhood of Queenhithe, including fragments of pavements, tiles and other evidences of buildings opposite Vintners' Hall (Plan A. W42) [Lond. and Midd. Arch. Soc. Trans., III, 409]. J. T. Smith records the discovery of part of the town-wall opposite Vintners' Hall [Streets of London, 380, see p. 93. For Roach Smith's discoveries of the town-wall in this street, see p. 93].

In 1927 a tunnel for electric-power cables was driven along the N. side of the street from Cannon Street station to Arthur Street. Opposite the block of buildings between Bush Lane and Little Bush Lane (Plan A. W45) a foundation of chalk blocks was encountered; an indeterminate edge on the S. side seemed to trend more N. of E. than the line of the trench. This foundation may represent either the foundation of the river-wall or the débris fallen outwards. Material of a somewhat similar nature was found in a shaft S. of the W. frontage of Arthur Street, which again may represent fallen material; this latter deposit did not extend any farther E. in the tunnel which turned up the E. side of Arthur Street nor was any trace of walling or other construction encountered in passing up Arthur Street, though the southern part of this tunnel was driven through the river mud at the Roman level. On either side the foot of Suffolk Lane (Plan A 106) two heavy composite balks of timber were cut through; they were 20 ft. apart and between 15 and 20 ft. below the pavement-level. One of the timbers employed was 26 in. by at least 24 in. and the construction was said to slope towards the river. The suggestion that they formed slips appears to be negatived by the fact that they were not at the same level. About 18 ft. farther E. a flint wall was encountered crossing the trench; it was set in white mortar and 2½ ft. thick. Some 17 ft. E. of this wall another timber construction was encountered, of lighter type than the first and consisting of timbers running both across the trench and longitudinally. Projecting into the trench at this point was the drum of a stone column 2 ft. in diameter and roughly fashioned. Another timber was cut through (Plan A 105) about 34 ft. W. of the W. corner of Arthur Street [R.E.M.W. and A.C.].

Threadneedle Street. In 1841, traces of a coarse red tessellated pavement were found under the ruins of the French Protestant Church (Plan A 76), opposite Finch Lane; the position was immediately opposite and proximate to the entrance to the church from the street and on either side but not in the same line were coarse red pavements running under the street, at a depth of 12 ft.; it measured 6 ft. by 5 ft., being the pavement (Plate 50) of a passage (6 ft. wide) and had patterns of squares and lozenges in white and black, filled with rosettes, "labyrinths," and other devices. "The stratum of pavement, noticed to the extent of 7 or 8 ft. on the left on entering the ruins, had evidently been considerably disturbed .... the regular portion with its substructure remaining, was about 2 ft. higher than the variegated part which again was not on the same level with a piece composed of 1 in. square tesserae lying about 4 ft. on the right." Another pavement (Plate 50) was unearthed about 6½ ft. to the N. of the first pavement; it is a square design with an extreme dimension of about 13½ ft., but the outer border may well have been much deeper than allowed for in this dimension; it was in variegated tesserae, with a rosette in the centre. The two pavements are now in the British Museum. "Vestiges of other floorings and of passages were noticed but the walls had entirely disappeared. from the remains of wall-paintings the rooms had been decorated in a superior style: the ground of some of the paintings was red bordered with green, blue, black and yellow; other fragments were painted with flowers and foliage in red, yellow, white and green upon a black ground." A considerable quantity of charcoal and some charred barley found on the pavements indicated that the building had been destroyed by fire [Arch., XXIX, 400; Soc. Antiq. MS. Min. XXXVIII, 149; Illus. Rom. Lond., 55, pls. 9, 10; Morgan, Rom. Brit. Mosaic Pavements, 183, 184]. A third pavement was found in 1844 "in Threadneedle Street not far distant from Merchant Taylors' Hall at a depth of about 12 ft. from the surface" [Morgan, loc. cit.]. A lead pipe found near by was supposed to have been connected with the baths of this house or villa [Lond. and Midd. Arch. Soc. Trans., II, 2].

Fig. 56. Bath under No. 62 Threadneedle Street. From Archæologia, LX.

A note on a City Sewers Plan (II, 98), dated December, 1849, says: "while excavating for a branch in Threadneedle Street we met with an old Roman wall built with Kentish rag and chalk and standing in front of Crown Court (Plan A 78), about 10 ft. from the surface to the top of the wall and 12 ft. thick, running in a parallel line with Threadneedle Street."

In 1895, excavations were made at No. 62 (Sun Fire Office) on the N. side of the street (Plan A 75). At 27 ft. was a shallow bath (5 ft. 3 in. by 5 ft. 3 in. by 2 ft.), reached by two semi-circular steps (Plate 46 and Fig. 56); it was formed of rough stone mixed with broken tiles, and had a floor of opus signinum. The walls were plastered, and the whole rested on a substructure of concrete [Arch. Journ., LII, 198; Arch., LX, 218].

A floor (Fig. 57) of opus signinum on a foundation of rough pieces of rag-stone and white mortar was found in 1910 between the street and the N. side of Merchant Taylors' Hall (Plan A 77), just inside the parish of St. Martin Outwich. A small Roman drain of stone ran underneath the floor [Arch., LXIII, 323, with plan].

Throgmorton Street. At the corner of Bartholomew Lane near the Ancient Mart (Plan A 64), the gravel was reached at about 12 ft. below the surface in 1856; "in Throgmorton Street several discoveries were made; a deep ditch crossed the N.E. angle, in which remains of cask-hoops had become petrified; the springs through the. gravel of the site were generally strong and had been made available by means of oaken wells, like large casks without top or bottom." A Roman well was also found, formed of squared chalk, containing charred wood 3 ft. thick [Arch. Journ., XIII, 274].

Tokenhouse Yard (Plan A 63). General PittRivers (then Col. Lane-Fox) in 1867 reported the finding of piles connected by "camp-sheathing" (? part of the embankment of the Walbrook) [Anthrop. Rev. V (1867), LXXVI]. He does not say whether there is any evidence of these being Roman. In 1889, the bed of the Walbrook was reached hereabouts at a depth of 20 ft., and a few coins of the early Empire and pieces of pottery were found [Arch. Rev., IV, 292].

The Tower. Near the Cold Harbour Tower (Plan A 1), on the S.W. of the White Tower, Roman remains, including masonry, tiles, and part of a hypocaust flue, were found in 1899 [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc. (N.S.), V, 351; VI, 26 ff].

Fig. 57. Remains near Merchant Taylors' Hall. From Arch., LXIII.

Tower Hill. In 1882, a length of 73 ft. of the town-wall was removed in making the Inner Circle Railway (Plan A 2) and foundations of buildings and a red tessellated pavement on a bed of concrete with a substructure of oak piling were unearthed [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., XXXVIII, 447; Arch. Rev., I, 355].

Trinity Lane, Queen Victoria Street (Plan A 161). During the making of a sewer "portions of immense walls with occasional layers of bond-tiles" were met with, and some exhibited remains of fresco-painting [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., I, 254]. The position of these walls is indicated on a City Sewers Plan of 1845 [I, 139]. The site is now covered by Queen Victoria Street.

Warwick Square. Roman remains were found in 1881 on premises of Messrs. Tylor (Plan A 181) at a depth of about 19 ft.; the plan of the site indicates several pieces of a wall, a well, a brick pavement, and the spots where lead coffins, a tiled grave, leaden jars, and urns were found [Arch., XLVIII, 221 ff., with plates 10–12; and Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, XXXVII, 88. The coffins and other finds have been deposited in the British Museum by Messrs. Tylor].

Water Lane (Lower Thames Street). A small shaft sunk in the lower part of the road (Plan A 17) in May, 1927, cut through a rag-stone wall set in light brown mortar, running N. and S. and perhaps turning W. at the lower end. The top of the wall was 3½ ft. below the road surface; the age of the wall is uncertain but is probably Roman [R.E.M.W. and A.C.].

Watling Street (Plan A 151). About 1833, in making a sewer, a roadway was found at a depth of 20 ft., with a substratum of chalk and a pavement of flint [Gent. Mag., 1833, II, 422].

In making Queen Victoria Street in 1869, a hard road or causeway was found in crossing Watling Street (Plan A. 152) and nearly in a line with that street, 10¼ ft. from the surface. It was of rough stones and gravel, cambered on the surface, and in the upper part were found quantities of broken Roman pottery [Price, Descr. Rom. Tess. Pavement in Bucklersbury, 77].

Wood Street (Plan A 141). Pavements of tesserae found in 1843 and 1848, see under Gresham Street.