CITY OF LONDON

(1) The Matrix, 9–13 Aldgate High Street, EC3 (TQ 33611 81224): evaluation of this site, located only 60 m outside Aldgate and close to the line of the Roman road, produced no features, burials or artefacts of this period.Footnote ²⁵⁵

(2) Bevis Marks House, 24–25 Bevis Marks, EC3A 7NR (TQ 33408 81319): examination of cores drilled in the bases of three trial pits indicated that the Roman City Wall — observed during construction work in 1923 — had not survived within the site.Footnote ²⁵⁶

(3) 39–53 Cannon Street, 11–14 Bow Lane and Watling Court, EC4 (TQ 3235 8104): an east–west-aligned row of three heavily decayed timber piles was recorded in a watching-brief, cutting into the natural brickearth. Each measured 0.15 m in diameter by 0.1 m deep and, although undated, they are likely to relate to Roman occupation on the site.Footnote ²⁵⁷

(4) 51–54 Fenchurch Street, EC3 (TQ 33295 80957): an evaluation revealed the truncated remains of a first-century a.d. Roman building, comprising a north-west/south-east-aligned brickearth sill with a series of adjacent floor deposits. These were sealed by demolition debris including burnt brickearth and charcoal fragments, and a brickearth layer containing plaster fragments. To the south, the building was cut by a well of possible Roman date. In the courtyard area outside, a straight-sided cut appeared to represent the robbing-out of a Roman wall. A further cut and layer also appeared to be from this period.Footnote ²⁵⁸

(5) River Plate House, 7–11 Finsbury Circus, EC2 (TQ 32835 81705): following work in 2013 an excavation targeted the area around evaluation Test Pit 4, located in the south-east part of the building. The earliest deposits overlying the natural gravels were sterile, waterlain gravelly brickearth and fine silts; it is possible that a tributary of the Walbrook ran on or near to the site. Both deposits were capped by a thin but compacted metalled gravel surface which may represent an area of external hardstanding, surface or perhaps even a road. The gravel surface was capped by a stiff mid-grey clay which in turn was overlain by soft and friable organic peaty silts. The deposits appear to represent the late Roman and medieval build-up of the marsh deposits which formed in the Moorfields area.Footnote ²⁵⁹

(6) 19–20 Garlick Hill and 1–4 Skinners Lane, EC4 (TQ 3238 8087): an evaluation in the southern part of the site was followed by a watching-brief on boreholes and geotechnical trial pits. A deep cut feature (probably a pit or well) containing a single sherd of Roman pottery was recorded. This was truncated by a chalk structure built within a clay-filled construction cut which, by analogy with similar features, may also be of Roman date.Footnote ²⁶⁰

(7) 21–27 Leadenhall Street, 52–54 Lime Street, EC3 (TQ 33242 81116): excavation and watching-brief revealed natural brickearth overlain by redeposited brickearth in the south-west corner of the site, indicating that it had been truncated, possibly during the Roman period. A number of Roman features, including pits and stake-holes, were recorded across the site and a large brooch was recovered from a pit in the north-east corner. In the north-west of the site were a timber-lined drain and a short stretch of gravel road foundation. Aligned north-east/south-west and accompanied by a parallel ditch, this may have been part of a predecessor to Lime Street.Footnote ²⁶¹

(8) Asia House, 31–33 Lime Street, EC3 (TQ 33115 80980): watching-brief and excavation produced evidence of Roman dumping and pitting across the site, as well as two phases of Roman structural activity between extensive fire horizons which are thought to represent the Boudiccan (a.d. 60–61) and Hadrianic (a.d. 125–130) fires. Early pre-Boudiccan remains included a metalled surface and dumping activity, followed by floor surfaces representing a building constructed after a.d. 61. The final Roman activity, after the Hadrianic fire, consisted of the construction of a substantial masonry wall which is thought to form part of the complex excavated in 1983 to the south-west and west of the site at 25–26 Lime Street (site code LIM83) and at 27–30 Lime Street (site code IME83).Footnote ²⁶²

(9) 60–61 Mark Lane, EC3 (TQ 33347 80854): watching-brief showed that reworked brickearth was cut by a Roman pit filled by three different deposits. The lowest of these contained greyish mortar, lumps of chalk and a single sherd of pottery dating to a.d. 50–150.Footnote ²⁶³

(10) RSQ Building, St Bartholomew's Hospital, West Smithfield, EC1 (TQ 3186 8148): evaluation and excavation took place in the basement of the former Out Patients Department in the south-western part of the hospital. The site is located within the Western Cemetery of Roman London and eight inhumations and one cremation were recorded. In the south-west of the basement, superimposed Roman buildings were observed, the best surviving fragment being the base of a collapsed brickearth wall with in-situ plain wall-plaster. A large quarry pit was present in the south-east of the basement but could not be excavated fully.Footnote ²⁶⁴

(11) Creechurch Place, Mitre Square, London, EC3 (TQ 33448 81204): excavation examined a series of very large Roman quarry pits cut into natural brickearth. These contained pottery dated to a.d. 120–250, 250–400, 270–350 and 300–400 respectively. A rubbish pit containing material of a.d. 250–400 was also recorded. The presence of these pits suggests that this area was open — either continuously or at different times — in the later Roman period despite its proximity to Aldgate and the City Wall. Truncation during later periods had probably removed any above-ground Roman remains, biasing the archaeological record towards the below-ground features.Footnote ²⁶⁵

(12) 117, 119 and 121 Bishopsgate, EC2M 3TH (TQ 33192 81506): an evaluation recorded several layers of waste material, mainly dating to the first and second century, overlying a burnt surface which, given the site's vicinity to known Roman burials, could represent the location of a funeral pyre.Footnote ²⁶⁶

(13) 116–120 Fenchurch Street, EC3M 5BA (TQ 33269 81009): an evaluation recorded Roman settlement activity dating mainly to the first and second century, with limited indication of third- to fourth-century activity. The features recorded comprised several pits and post-holes, and a mid-first-century ditch which appeared to have been backfilled by the third century. Structural remains included a potential hearth along with what appeared to be in-situ mortar and a timber beam, and an area of tessellated surface. The building materials recovered on site included tegula, imbrex, tile, brick, tesserae, Kentish ragstone, Hassock sandstone, combed box-flue tile, decorated painted wall-plaster, and a single example of white Turkish marble inlay, and suggest the presence of a high-status building. Also of note is the presence within the animal bone assemblage of a sturgeon scute, as sturgeons are rare finds on Romano-British sites, and of a dog bacculum or ‘penis bone’ which, in the absence of any other dog bones, might represent an item potentially kept for some ritualistic/totemic purpose.Footnote ²⁶⁷

BROMLEY

(1) St Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, 312 High Street, St Mary Cray, Orpington, BR5 4AR (TQ 47111 67410): an evaluation, excavation and watching-brief revealed evidence of a possible high-status settlement dating to the first and second century located in the south-east of the site, with evidence for a late Iron Age settlement recorded in the north-west. The predominant feature was a large east–west-aligned ditch with a possible palisade running along its southern side, as evidenced by a post-hole recorded cutting into the ditch base, which could be interpreted as defensive in nature, enclosing land at the top of the ridgeline overlooking the river Cray. Other features comprised several post-holes and rubbish pits, a beam slot, a few smaller ditches, and a robbed-out wall foundation from which a stylus was recovered.Footnote ²⁶⁸

CROYDON

(1) Cane Hill Hospital (former), Brighton Road, Coulsdon, CR5 3YL (TQ 2940 5890): an evaluation recorded a series of first- to fifth-century pits and post-holes on regular alignments. The location of the features and the mixed finds assemblage seem to indicate a Romano-British farmstead type settlement initially established in the late Iron Age and in use until at least the early Saxon period.Footnote ²⁶⁹

(2) Dunheved Hotel, 639–641 London Road, Thornton Heath, CR7 (TQ 31366 67457): a watching-brief on ground reduction revealed no evidence of the Roman road from London to Portslade which was thought to cross the site.Footnote ²⁷⁰

HACKNEY

(1) Principal Place, Worship Street, EC2 (TQ 3335 8209): following work in 2011–12 which revealed some 25 inhumations, several cremations and a bustum burial,Footnote ²⁷¹ excavations and watching-briefs were carried out on the site. The site lies west of the line of Ermine Street (now Bishopsgate and Shoreditch High Street); Roman remains only survived on the eastern side of the site. The earliest evidence consisted of several ditches and quarry pits which may date to the first to second centuries a.d. but the majority of the remains related to burials forming part of the cemetery north of the city. Thirteen graves were located, of which five were in the area adjacent to Worship Street, while another seven (including a decapitation burial) were recorded east of Plough Yard. The cemetery may have continued in use until the late fourth or early fifth century.Footnote ²⁷² A hoard of 19 AU solidi and 114 AR siliquae to c. a.d. 402 was found in an ill-defined cut through the backfill of a ditch that served as the northern boundary of the late Roman cemetery.Footnote ²⁷³

HILLINGDON

(1) Sipson Farm, Sipson Road, Sipson (TQ 0780 7746): excavation revealed a Romano-British field-system and associated wells/waterholes, pits and possible structures. Preliminary assessment suggests that these mostly dated to the first and second centuries, although some are late Roman. The line of a track or droveway was marked by two parallel ditches, over 23 m apart in places, on a roughly NNW–SSE alignment. It was flanked by fields and enclosures. One enclosure was roughly square, measuring 45 m by 40 m, with an entrance opening onto the track. It was adjoined on the north side by a smaller roughly triangular enclosure. One large waterhole was found to contain the remnants of a timber box-frame shaft. A small cluster of post-holes may represent a structure, and there was fragmentary evidence for up to five roundhouses which on morphological grounds could either be Romano-British or of earlier date.Footnote ²⁷⁴

LEWISHAM

(1) Rushey Green Primary School, Culverly Road (TQ 3782 7333): an evaluation revealed a shallow sub-rectangular pit-like feature containing a few sherds of Romano-British pottery. Post-holes and another pit, though not dated, are thought to have been associated with the Romano-British activity.Footnote ²⁷⁵

NEWHAM

(1) Broadway Chambers, 2 Broadway, Stratford, E15 4QS (TQ 38769 84248): excavation recorded the remains of a Roman clay-and-timber building.Footnote ²⁷⁶

SOUTHWARK

(1) Aylesbury Estate Regeneration, Site 7, East Street, Sedan Way, Southern Street, Thurlow Street, SE17 (TQ 3302 7842): the site lies c. 300 m east of the line of Watling Street. A Roman road running from Watling Street towards Westminster had been postulated to run across the north-eastern part of the site but a watching-brief found no evidence of this.Footnote ²⁷⁷

(2) 405 Old Kent Road, SE1 (TQ 33855 78230): a number of Roman quarry pits were found in an evaluation and watching-brief. Two sherds of Roman pottery and one fragment of building material were recovered. The remains suggest that the area, which lay close to the line of Watling Street, was exploited for sand and gravel during this period.Footnote ²⁷⁸

(3) 16 Winchester Walk, SE1 (TQ 32570 80330): test pits in the basement of the building revealed Roman layers directly below the slab. These probably represent dumping but contained no finds which could provide more accurate dating.Footnote ²⁷⁹

SUTTON

(1) Felnex Trading Estate, London Road, Hackbridge, SM6 (TQ 28426 65835): an evaluation recorded soil horizons, possibly cultivated soils of Roman date, above the natural gravel on the western side of the site. In the south-west of the site these were cut by three intercutting ditches containing abraded pottery of a.d. 50–150. A fourth ditch was found further to the north. The ditches may represent field boundaries forming part of a larger system extending across the gravel terraces along the Wandle valley.Footnote ²⁸⁰

TOWER HAMLETS

(1) Tobacco Dock (Parcel 4), 130–162 The Highway, E1 (TQ 348 807): a second phase of excavation was undertaken in the south-central part of the site, located between the areas investigated in 2002 and 2010/11.Footnote ²⁸¹ Further evidence of a clay-and-timber building was exposed in the south-west corner of the site in the form of floor surfaces and post-holes. At present it has not been established whether these are associated with the structure recorded in 2011 or represent a different building. A number of boundary ditches were also recorded across the site, along with a series of post-pits located in the north-east of the excavation area which may represent a further timber structure or a fence-line. A third- to fourth-century date is likely for these features.Footnote ²⁸²

WANDSWORTH

(1) 12–18 Radstock Street, SW11 (TQ 27210 77192): evaluation recorded a north–south-aligned Roman ditch at least 90 m long cutting natural terrace gravels and overlying deposits. Pottery dated to a.d. 120–300 was recovered from the fill. A small pit was probably of similar date.Footnote ²⁸³