Post-Roman Archaeological Sites (major Glass Finds)

(Installed 25.3.2010)

90-94 Old Broad Street, Boston House, 63-64 New Broad Street, EC2.(Molas BRO90). (Year 1990)
Greater London SMR No. 042824-9 Location Latitude: 51.5166708 Longitude: -0.083

Summary
Roman, Medieval, Post-Medieval.

'London Archaeologist Round-up 1991(1)' (edited):

The site straddled the line of the city wall. The earliest feature cutting natural was a V-shaped ditch, only the base of which (with 'ankle-breaker' profile) survived severe truncation. This ditch lay in front of and c 6m to the N of the line of the wall of the late 1st-early 2nd-c Roman defences (projected from a surviving segment to the W, at the church of All Hallows-on-the-Wall (LA 5 no 10 (1987) 272-3)). This ditch, the backfill of which contained disarticulated skeletons, was the first of 6 successive ditches or recuttings.
The second is late Roman or early medieval in origin, its backfill containing a medieval bone skate, and the third is dated to the late 13th c. The fourth ditch was cut at the beginning of the 16th c and was recut, after silting up, after 1630. The recut was systematically backfilled in the mid-17th, marking an end to the defences.

Later features included a horncore-lined drainage ditch, rubbish pits and chalk or mortar foundations of 17th c date, and 18th c brick-lined wells. The 17th c ditch backfill contained large quantities of glass vessel fragments and glass-working debris, possibly from Mansell's glassworks, Austin Friars. Large quantities of 17th c pottery were also recovered from the backfill. Much is in good condition with many complete profiles. Post-medieval redwares and Border wares predominate. A wide range of imports includes Werra and Weser wares and Rhenish stonewares.

Pinners' Hall, Great Winchester Street, 8 Austin Friars Square, 105-108 Old Broad Street, EC2. (MoLAS GWS89).(Year 1989).
Greater London SMR No. 1489, 042563-75
Location Latitude: 51.5157908 Longitude: -0.0848939

Summary
Roman,

Post-demolition excavations, funded by the Merchant Navy Officers Pension Fund, were conducted between May and July 1990, followed by a watching brief.The earliest evidence of activity, cutting natural gravels and brickearth, was a U-shaped ditch or gully running E-W across the site, to the N, and a well, to the S, both of early Roman date. Widespread gravel-quarrying ensued. The quarry pits were backfilled and the ground consolidated, presumably in preparation for possible construction, all further evidence of which was truncated.

Medieval, Post-Medieval (Evidence for Glassmaking.)
In the early medieval period, the site was open ground containing rubbish and cesspits, and three barrel-lined wells. It lay within the documented precincts of the Augustinian friary of Austin Friars, founded in the 13th c. Short lengths of masonry foundations, in several phases, were exposed and about 200 fragments of moulded stone, including column bases and window tracery, were recovered from destruction debris or found reused in later foundations. Few later features survived severe modern truncation.Finds from the site include a good assemblage of mid-1st-c pottery, the earliest such assemblage found in the City of London, a complete Roman millstone from a watermill, medieval crucibles and bone skates, and a post-medieval crucible for glassmaking, with glass slag.

54 Lombard Street, EC3 (site of All Hallows Lombard Street church). (MoLAS. GM101). (Years 1939, 1957). Greater London SMR No. 040844-53 Location Latitude: 51.5121986 Longitude: -0.0851886

Summary.
Roman, Saxon, Medieval.

Roman levels: walls and piers of both basilicas of the successive Roman fora were discovered; these have recently been reinterpreted and analysed (Marsden 1987).Saxon and medieval levels: an early stone church with overall dimensions of 66ft x 22ft was recorded (Fig 10). A stagger in the N wall may indicate the division between nave and chancel; there was no crosswall between them. The walls were of ragstone with reused Roman tiles and bricks between layers of clean gravel, between 3ft 6in. and 5ft wide. At the W end were two fragmentary walls of pitched ragstone in soft mortar, 2-2ft 6in. wide. These might have been a W porch or part of an earlier structure. In the 13th c a narrow N aisle (about 10ft wide) was added, of chalk walls on ragstone piers, with pointed foundation arches of chalk at the W end. This aisle was widened in the late 14th or early 15th c and further rebuilt c 1500 with ragstone walls on chalk and sandstone arches. The E wall of the chancel was also built on chalk foundation arches. The tower at the W end of the nave was probably constructed at the time of the later rebuilding of the N aisle (c 1500 on documentary evidence). In his rebuilding Wren positioned a new tower in the SW corner (Bloe 1948; Schofield 1994). A number of Spanish floor and ceiling tiles, recovered in 1939-40, have recently (1998) been identified as from Seville, dating to 1500-50.

Post-Medieval (The Gracechurch Street Hoard)

In 1940 workmen digging just outside the SE corner of the church broke through an old chalk wall at a depth of 18ft below Gracechurch Street. To the E of this wall, between it and Gracechurch Street, were deposits backfilling a cellar including pottery, tobacco pipes and over 1,000 fragments of glass vessels. The assemblage is mainly of the first half of the 17th c, with some 16th-c pieces, and was covered with what is probably debris of the Great Fire of 1666 (Oswald & Phillips 1949).What was probably the foundation of the tower was observed by E Rutter in February 1957: EDN IV, 56.

7-10 Foster Lane, 5-6 Rose and Crown Court, EC2. (MoLAS. OST82). (1982. A two-month excavation and one-month watching brief funded by Wates Developments ).

Aldrevandini beaker group of fragments.

This important find was described in the original summary by the following:-
Foster Lane "Aldrevandini" Group fragments on display at the Museum of London: The Aldrevandini beaker in the British Museum was the first of its type to be discovered. Hence this beaker is the type name for about 60 such vessels that have now been recorded.The medieval period was represented by two cesspits, which produced crucibles for metalworking, in one case (datable to the 14th c), with traces of goldworking upon it. An important group of 14th-c Venetian glass beaker fragments (Fig 43) was recovered from one of the medieval cesspits.

It later won the Archaeological Find of the Year described as follows:-
"In 1982, excavations by Ian Blair in Foster Lane (OST82), close to Goldsmiths' Hall, uncovered, in the bottom of a cess-pit dated to around 1300, a mass of fragments of beautifully thin and transparent glass beakers, decorated in enamel colours with lettering,Accurate replica of the Aldrevandini beaker in the British Museum.: It was made by William Gudenrath of The Corning Museum of Glass at the request of BM Keeper Hugh Tait. human figures and animals. I first saw these in our Conservation Department, where we all admired the brightness and clarity of the colours. I think it was Kate Starling who drew attention to a published black-and-white illustration of a complete glass vessel in the British Museum, the ‘Aldrevandini beaker’, that was clearly very similar; Kate went on to do a marvellous job of restoring the fragments. They turned out to comprise parts of at least eight beakers, two of them with the maker’s name on – ‘master Bartholomew’, almost certainly the ‘Bartholomew of Zara’ who was working as a painter of glasses in Venice between 1290 and 1325. Glass vessels with this sort of decoration were made in Venice for only a short time, and, though they’re very rare, examples (mostly fragments) have now been found distributed widely throughout Europe. But the Foster Lane group is still the largest group ever found, and the discovery put the Museum of London firmly on the map among glass historians. It also got me a couple of trips abroad – to an exhibition in Bonn and a conference in Basel – and a quite undeserved reputation as an expert on glass!"

Glasshouse Fields, Stepney E1. (MoLAS GAF04). (Paul Thrale, evaluation March–April 2004 and 2006, Amberlow Properties Ltd.).

National Grid Ref.TQ3567080920

Archaeological periods:- Roman; 17th century; 18th century; 19th century; 20th century.
Summaries.

London Archaeologist Round-up 2004:
Evidence for early glassworks was uncovered above the natural gravels. Dumped deposits of 17th - early 18th c. and 17th-18th c. industrial glass manufacturing waste were Glass House Fields alley.: This was the original central entrance from The Highway to the site which stretched as far north as Cable Street. The area to its left (west) as far as Brodlove Street was built over some time ago. The area to its right (east) as far as Schoolhouse Lane, lying behind Broad Street School (now a Community Centre) is the area of the present excavation.revealed. In one trench 17th-cent. dumped deposits associated with the early wood-burning glass manu- facturing process were found, truncated by 17th-c. brick foundations. Work surfaces and floor spreads associated with 17th-18th century glass manufacturing were also revealed. A series of work surfaces and hearths related to metal working from the late 18th and 19th centuries was uncovered, as were 19th-20th century brick structures, either related to later glass works or metal works. One abraded, residual sherd of Roman pottery was recovered.

London Archaeologist Round- up 2006:
Following work in 2004 (LA 11 supp. 1 (2005), 19), the oldest standing building on the site was recorded before demolition. A small two-storey Glasshouse Fields looking north from The Highway in 2006: Broad Street School (still standing) is in the foreground.brick building that was possibly constructed around 1800 and variously altered since, it contained traces of a brick vault, presumably a glass furnace, since dismantled. This building was used most recently for hardening glass. After the demolition and clearing of the disused buildings, the site was excavated, revealing natural gravels and evidence of 17th century glass working, and a large brick-built flue belonging to an 18th century glasshouse which appeared to have had several rebuilds. Other buildings recorded relate to later glass working and include two furnaces and various hot air flues.

Glasshouse Fields site excavation in 2006: Looking west with the Glass House Fields Alley (shown above) in the background.
Image courtesy of Newlon (Site developers).

Most of what we know about the recorded history of glassmaking at Glasshouse Fields up to the present day is given in my book, Glassmaking in London.