London's Waterfront 1100-1666: excavations in Thames Street, London,
1974-84 presents and celebrates the mile-long Thames Street in the City
of London and the land south of it to the River Thames as an
archaeological asset. The argument is based on the reporting of four
excavations of 1974-84 by the Museum of London near the north end of
London Bridge: Swan Lane, Seal House, New Fresh Wharf and Billingsgate
Lorry Park. Here the findings of the period 1100-1666 are presented.
Buildings and property development on sixteen properties south of Thames
Street, on land reclaimed in many stages since the opening of the 12th
century, include part of the parish church of St Botolph Billingsgate.
The many units of land reclamation are dated by dendrochronology, coins
and documents. They have produced thousands of artefacts and several
hundred kilos of native and foreign pottery. Much of this artefactual
material has been published, but in catalogue form (shoes, knives, horse
fittings, dress accessories, textiles, household equipment). Now the
context of these finds, their deposition in groups, is laid out for the
first time. Highlights of the publication include the first academic
analysis and assessment of a 13th- or 14th-century trumpet from
Billingsgate, the earliest surviving straight trumpet in Europe; many
pilgrim souvenirs; analysis of two drains of the 17th century from which
suggestions can be made about use of rooms and spaces within documented
buildings; and the proposal that one of the skeletons excavated from St
Botolph's church is John Reynewell, mayor of London in 1426-7 and a
notable figure in London's medieval history. The whole publication
encourages students and other researchers of all kinds to conduct
further research on any aspect of the sites and their very rich
artefactual material, which is held at the Museum of London's
Archaeological Archive. This is a significantly large and varied dataset
for the archaeology and history of London in the period 1100 to 1666
which can be continuously interrogated for generations to come.
