This is a beautifully produced, albeit expensive, hardback volume, with many very fine photos and plans that appears to be a full excavation report for the medieval and early post-medieval phases of four major sites on either side of London Bridge, dug between 1974 and 1984. It is long overdue, because these were among the earliest of the excavations undertaken by the then brand new Department of Urban Archaeology (DUA) at the equally new Museum of London. This organisation no longer exists, and was succeeded by a new body called Museum of London Archaeology, which rather curiously has had no connection with the Museum of London since 2011.

The principal author, John Schofield, is now retired, but over forty years ago he was involved in all of the excavations. It is to his credit that this volume has been published at all, because the early years of the DUA were, at times, fairly chaotic. I saw this first-hand when excavating, and then writing up, the last excavation undertaken by the old Guildhall Museum in 1973–4. This was at the Custom House site, which was also a large waterfront site just to the east of those reported on here.

What we all found in these remarkable waterlogged sites was an immense depth of stratigraphy going down to at least 6m to below the street, and well below Ordnance Datum – and the River Thames! At the bottom were large Roman timber quays, covered by an early Anglo-Saxon marine transgression (not discussed in this volume), overlain by a series of medieval timber revetments that gradually extended out into the river from the late Roman riverside wall to the nineteenth-century waterfronts. While this land was being reclaimed, vast amounts of ‘rubbish’ (waterlogged deposits with many finds and much pottery, to archaeologists) was thrown in behind the still-preserved timber waterfronts, and nearly half of the present report discusses fully a selection of the ceramics and finds that were excavated on the sites in four main periods (1100–1200, 1201–1350, 1351–1500, 1501–1666). This is principally the ceramic work of Lyn Blackmore and Jacqui Pearce, though various other ‘star’ finds are discussed, including a full report on the Billingsgate straight trumpet, which was actually found on the site in four sections by a metal-detectorist after the dig had ended. The detailed analysis of the find in the volume should have perhaps been published elsewhere, but there are also many other very important finds, which are fully published here. They include inter alia some fine new pilgrim badges, ironwork, leather and shoes, all very well preserved, and these are all excellently illustrated.

The meat of the volume is the detailed analysis of the four main sites by John Schofield, which includes both ‘dirt’ archaeology and buildings archaeology. Of particular importance was the analysis of the remarkable complex sequence of upstanding walls immediately to the south of St Botolph’s Church on the Billingsgate Lorry Park (Site D). Into this is incorporated the extensive documentary research of Tony Dyson (and later Stephen Freeth), which was done over many years.

The introduction tells us how relatively small but deep trenches were dug on three sites (A to C): Seal House and New Fresh Wharf in 1974–5, and Swan Lane in 1981. This was then followed by an epic ‘race against time’ dig in the north-west corner of the Billingsgate Lorry Park from March 1982 to February 1983. Carried out within a rectangular sheet-piled coffer dam, the whole site was excavated under great pressure, as only a few months were allowed for the work initially. A brief extension to the dig was then given (at short notice) that allowed it to continue over the Christmas/New Year period (under a roof!), and the heroes of the excavation were Steve Roskams (the site supervisor) and his diggers, who were later shown working long hours on a BBC Chronicle programme. The dig was also in full view of the public, who could observe it from a viewing gallery on the Thames Street frontage. Sadly, the site was then left open for another few months, while the rest of the archaeology in the huge lorry park was bulldozed and carted off to form the ‘hard core’ for the foundations of the Thurrock shopping centre, and other sites in Essex! Only a very constrained ‘watching brief’ was allowed when this happened in 1983–4. Never again should this be permitted!

All of the recording work was done using the Harris Matrix single context system, with primitive ‘first generation’ computers. This means that it is hard to see the evidence for the stratigraphic sequence on the site. Remarkably, there are no sections in this report for the Billingsgate site, and the drawn sections for the earlier trench sites (A–C) are just put in at the very end of the volume, without comment. One day, using modern computers, I hope that the stratigraphic and waterfront sequence in London can be reconstructed in 3D. This will then allow one to show, in detail, the changes in the level of the Thames over the last 2,000 years. It will also allow the many plans and photos of the buildings and waterfronts to be reconstructed in three dimensions. This needs to be done, especially for the building complexes on the southern side of St Botolph’s church. It is also sad to read that the huge number of moulded stones from St Botolph’s in the Museum of London stores were ‘inaccessible’ to the authors of this volume, and therefore could not be studied. Let us hope that one day a research excavation on the northern part of the church can be undertaken (which hopefully still lies beneath the Thames Street pavement to the north of the site), so that this very important late Anglo-Saxon and later medieval building can be seen. Ironically, the Great Fire of London, which destroyed it, started in Pudding Lane only a few yards away.

Despite this, Schofield and his collaborators have produced an excellent book, which should be used by many future archaeologists and historians (and, dare I say it, geoarchaeologists) to carry out more detailed studies of the London waterfront, and how it evolved over the last 2,000 years.