MOLAMUSEUM OF LONDON ARCHAEOLOGY ARCHAEOLOGY STUDIES SERIES 33

Roman and medieval revetments on the Thames waterfrontExcavations at Riverbank House, City of London, 20069

Anthony Mackinder

Roman and medieval revetments on the Thames waterfront

Excavations at Riverbank House, City of London,

20069

MOLA Archaeology Studies Series

For more information about these titles and other MOLA publications visit the publications page at www.mola.org.uk

1 A 14th-century pottery site in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey:excavations at 7076 Eden Street

2 Excavations at 7275 Cheapside/8393 Queen Street, City ofLondon

3 Bankside: excavations at Benbow House, Southwark, London SE1

4 A Romano-British cemetery on Watling Street: excavations at 165 Great Dover Street, Southwark, London

5 Excavations at 25 Cannon Street, City of London: from the Middle Bronze Age to the Great Fire

6 The London Millennium Bridge: excavation of the medieval andlater waterfronts at Peters Hill, City of London, and Bankside,Southwark

7 An excavation in the western cemetery of Roman London: AtlanticHouse, City of London

8 The Roman tower at Shadwell, London: a reappraisal

9 Early modern industry and settlement: excavations at George Street,Richmond, and High Street, Mortlake, in the London Borough ofRichmond upon Thames

10 Roman burials, medieval tenements and suburban growth: 201 Bishopsgate, City of London

11 Investigating the maritime history of Rotherhithe: excavations at Pacific Wharf, 165 Rotherhithe Street, Southwark

12 Medieval and later urban development at High Street, Uxbridge:excavations at the Chimes Shopping Centre, London Borough ofHillingdon

13 Pre-Boudican and later activity on the site of the forum:excavations at 168 Fenchurch Street, City of London

14 Roman and medieval development south of Newgate: excavationsat 39 Newgate Street and 1617 Old Bailey, City of London

15 The Doulton stoneware pothouse in Lambeth: excavations at 9 Albert Embankment, London

16 Becoming Roman: excavation of a Late Iron Age to Romano-British landscape at Monkston Park, Milton Keynes

17 A Roman drainage culvert, Great Fire destruction debris and otherevidence from hillside sites north-east of London Bridge: excavationsat Monument House and 1321 Eastcheap, City of London

18 Late 17th- to 19th-century burial and earlier occupation at AllSaints, Chelsea old church, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

19 Roman waterfront development at 12 Arthur Street, City ofLondon

20 Finsburys moated manor, medieval land use and later developmentin the Finsbury Square area, Islington

21 The City Bunhill burial ground, Golden Lane, London:excavations at South Islington schools, 2006

22 Stepney Gasworks: the archaeology and history of the CommercialGas Light and Coke Companys works at Harford Street, London E1,18371946

23 Medieval settlement to 18th-/19th-century rookery: excavations atCentral Saint Giles, London Borough of Camden, 20068

24 New Bunhill Fields burial ground, Southwark: excavations atGlobe Academy, 2008

25 The Hope playhouse, animal baiting and later industrial activity atBear Gardens on Bankside: excavations at Riverside House and NewGlobe Walk, Southwark, 19992000

26 Roman and medieval development south of Cheapside: excavationsat Bow Bells House, City of London, 20056

27 At the limits of Lundenwic: excavations in the north-west ofMiddle Saxon London at St Martins Courtyard, 20078

28 Prehistoric to medieval landscape and settlement at Kemsley, nearSittingbourne, Kent: excavations 20035

29 Roman roadside settlement and rural landscape at Brentford:archaeological investigations at Hilton London Syon Park Hotel,200410

30 Medieval Haywharf to 20th-century brewery: excavations atWatermark Place, City of London

31 Roman occupation south-east of the forum: excavations at 20Fenchurch Street, City of London, 20089

32 Urban development in the north-west of Londinium: excavations at120122 Cheapside to 1418 Gresham Street, City of London, 20057

33 Roman and medieval revetments on the Thames waterfront:excavations at Riverbank House, City of London, 20069

Roman and medieval

revetments on the

Thames waterfront

Excavations at Riverbank House,

City of London, 20069

Anthony Mackinder

MOLA ARCHAEOLOGY STUDIES SERIES 33

Published by MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology)

Copyright MOLA 2015

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the copyright owner.

The Ordnance Survey mapping included in this publication is Crown copyright, Ordnance Survey. All rights reserved.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Production and series design by Tracy Wellman

Typesetting and design by Sue Cawood

Reprographics by Andy Chopping

Copy editing by Simon Burnell

Series editing by Sue Hirst/Susan M Wright

Printed in the United Kingdom by Henry Ling Ltd

at the Dorset Press, an ISO 14001 certified printer

Front cover: lead-alloy openwork panel depicting the life and death of

Thomas of Lancaster, executed 1322 (Fig 81)

CONTRIBUTORS Principal author Anthony Mackinder

Documentary research John Schofield with Tony Dyson

Ceramic building material Ian M Betts

Roman pottery Amy Thorp with Joanna Bird

Medieval and post-medieval Jacqui Pearcepottery

Accessioned finds Jackie Keily with Geoff Egan

Numismatica Julian Bowsher

Woodworking evidence Damian Goodburn

Plant remains Anne Davis with Allan Hall

Animal bone Alan Pipe

Leather Beth Richardson

Photography Edwin Baker, Andy Chopping, Maggie Cox

Graphics Carlos Lemos, Hannah Faux

Project manager Sophie Jackson

Post-excavation manager Lucy Whittingham

Editor Bruno Barber

List of figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x

List of tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii

Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv

Introduction 1 1.1 Site location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

1.2 Medieval waterfront archaeology in the City of

London . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

1.3 Geology and topography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

1.4 Circumstances and dates of fieldwork . . . . . . . . . 3

1.5 Organisation of the report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

1.6 Textual and graphical conventions . . . . . . . . . . . 5

The Roman riverside, c AD 120400 (period 1) 2 2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2.2 Archaeological evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

The 2nd-century AD waterfront . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

The 3rd-century AD waterfront . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Roman leather . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

2.3 Discussion (period 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Saxo-Norman occupation and ?tenement 3 3.1 Documentary evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

formation, c 10001100 (period 2) 3.2 Archaeological evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Saxo-Norman deposits and features . . . . . . . . . . 12

3.3 Discussion (period 2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

12th-century waterfronts and buildings, 4 4.1 Documentary evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

c 11001200 (period 3) 4.2 Archaeological evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Earlier 12th-century waterfront reclamation

(period 3, phase 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Later 12th-century waterfront reclamation

(period 3, phase 2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

4.3 Discussion (period 3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Later medieval waterfronts and buildings, 5 5.1 Documentary evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

c 12001450 (period 4) Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Tenements 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

5.2 Archaeological evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Early 13th-century waterfront reclamation

(period 4, phase 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Further early 13th-century waterfront reclamation

(period 4, phase 2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

CONTENTS

vi

?Mid 13th-century waterfront reclamation

(period 4, phase 3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Late 13th-century waterfront reclamation

(period 4, phase 4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Early to mid 14th-century waterfront reclamation

(period 4, phase 5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Mid 14th-century waterfront reclamation

(period 4, phase 6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Late 14th- to early 15th-century waterfront

reclamation (period 4, phase 7) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

5.3 Discussion (period 4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

The early post-medieval riverside, 6 6.1 Documentary evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

c 14501700 (period 5) Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Tenements 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

6.2 Archaeological evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Properties fronting Swan Lane . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Properties fronting Thames Street . . . . . . . . . . . 69

6.3 Discussion (period 5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

The later post-medieval riverside, 7 7.1 Documentary evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

c 17001900 (period 6) 7.2 Archaeological evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Properties fronting Thames Street and Dyers Hall

Wharf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Properties fronting Swan Lane . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Other activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

7.3 Discussion (period 6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Aspects of the medieval waterfront 8 8.1 Medieval waterfront woodworking . . . . . . . . . . 77

Summary of medieval waterfront development . . . . 77

The work of some of the last treewrights and first

carpenters in London . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

The medieval treescape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Materials and labour in the 14th century . . . . . . . . 82

8.2 Pottery from the medieval and post-medieval

waterfronts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Overview of period 2 pottery . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Overview of period 3 pottery . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Overview of period 4 pottery . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Overview of period 5 pottery . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

8.3 Accessioned finds from the medieval and post-

medieval waterfronts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

vii

viii

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Pilgrim souvenirs and other religious items . . . . . . 94

Industry and tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Dress accessories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

The assemblage over time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

8.4 Plant remains from the medieval waterfronts . . . . 102

Dyeplants and textile processing . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Foods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Stable waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

8.5 Leather from the medieval and post-medieval

waterfronts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Specialist appendices 9 9.1 Building materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

9.2 Roman pottery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Introduction and methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Overview of the decorated samian . . . . . . . . . . 108

9.3 Medieval and post-medieval pottery . . . . . . . . . 108

Summary of selected pottery . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

9.4 Roman accessioned finds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Catalogue of illustrated Roman accessioned

finds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

9.5 Medieval accessioned finds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Catalogue of illustrated medieval accessioned

finds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

9.6 Coins, tokens and jettons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Catalogue of illustrated tokens . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

9.7 Plant remains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Introduction and methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

9.8 Animal bone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Introduction and methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Species composition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Modification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Pathological changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Stature estimates and metrical data for the

major domesticates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Comparison with the Watermark Place assemblage . 126

ix

9.9 Leather . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Catalogue of illustrated Roman leather . . . . . . . 127

Catalogue of illustrated medieval leather . . . . . . . 127

French and German summaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

xFig 1 Map showing the location of the site and other sites mentioned in the text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Fig 2 View from London Bridge showing the site in the course of redevelopment in 2009 . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Fig 3 Plan showing the location of archaeological trenches and watching brief areas at Riverbank House and adjacent sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Fig 4 View of archaeologists recording timbers of medieval revetments on the east side of the site (W4, W10) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Fig 5 Graphical conventions used in this report . . . . . . . 6Fig 6 Plan of principal archaeological features of period 1

(c AD 120400) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Fig 7 Selected accessioned finds from period 1

(c AD 120400) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Fig 8 South-facing elevation of the late Roman riverside

wall (S1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Fig 9 View of work in progress on the late Roman

riverside wall (S1), also showing the underlying dockside building (B1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Fig 10 Iron tools and from Open Area 2 . . . . . 13Fig 11 Plan of the northern part of the site in period 2

(c 10001100) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Fig 12 View of ?tenement building (B2) built against the

truncated late Roman riverside wall (S1) . . . . . . . 14Fig 13 Reconstruction of the location and extent of

medieval tenements 15 on the site, also showing parish boundaries and trench outlines . . . . . . . . . 17

Fig 14 Plan of the northern part of the site in period 3 (c 11001200) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Fig 15 Elements of the early 12th-century stave-built revetment (W2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Fig 16 Detail plan of mid 12th-century stave-built cellar or undercroft (B4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Fig 17 Grooved stave-wall baseplate timbers [5065], [5066]and [5079] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Fig 18 Lead-alloy pilgrim souvenir of Our Lady of Le Puy-en-Velay, France . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Fig 19 Detail plan of Waterfront 4, with a conjecturalreconstruction of the waterfront . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Fig 20 View of the front brace assembly (W4) under excavation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Fig 21 Plan of late 12th-century revetments (W5, W6) and their conjectured relationship to a contemporaryrevetment at Swan Lane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Fig 22 View showing the planking of Waterfront 5 slumping, with the baseplate [5091] of the laterWaterfront 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Fig 23 View showing baseplate [5091] and post [5092] of Waterfront 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Fig 24 Plan of early 13th-century activity in the east of the site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Fig 25 View showing the landward side of the sheathingplanking of Waterfront 7 with well-preserved saw marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Fig 26 Tools, household items and horse accessories from Waterfront 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Fig 27 Dress accessories and religious items from Waterfront 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Fig 28 Accessioned finds from the west end of Waterfront 7 . 32Fig 29 Leather knife sheaths and from

Waterfront 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Fig 30 Accessioned finds from Waterfront 8 . . . . . . . . . 34Fig 31 Plan of Waterfronts 9 and 10 and their conjectured

relationship to one recorded at Swan Lane . . . . . . 35Fig 32 Accessioned finds from foreshore deposits

associated with Waterfront 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Fig 33 Details of baseplate timber [5109] from

Waterfront 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Fig 34 Plan of early/mid 13th-century revetments (W11,

W12, W13, W16, W17) and their conjectured relationship to one recorded at Swan Lane . . . . . . 39

Fig 35 View of Waterfront 11 with front brace [5101] . . . . 40Fig 36 Part-melted lead-alloy object , decorated

with a lion passant, from dumping associated with Waterfront 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Fig 37 Details of selected timbers from Waterfront 17 . . . . 41Fig 38 Copper-alloy dress accessories and household

items from Open Area 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Fig 39 Plan of late 13th-century revetments (W14, W15,

W20) and their conjectured relationship to one recorded at Swan Lane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Fig 40 Waterfront 14, showing recorded timbers and as reconstructed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Fig 41 Iron auger spoon bit from Waterfront 14 . . . . 46Fig 42 Late 13th-century shoes and boots

from Waterfront 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Fig 43 View of Waterfront 20 with timber drain (S3) and

chalk foundation of Building 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . 48Fig 44 Plan of Waterfronts 18 and 21 and drains (S2S3),

showing their conjectured relationship to a drain and revetment found at Swan Lane . . . . . . . . . . 49

Fig 45 View of Waterfront 18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50Fig 46 Details of the key structural timbers of

Waterfront 18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51Fig 47 View of Waterfront 21 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Fig 48 Details of the timbers of an elaborate land-tie

assembly from Waterfront 21, with a partialreconstruction of the revetment . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Fig 49 Accessioned finds associated with a mid 14th-century timber drain (S2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Fig 50 View of imported ?wine cask reused as a sump in a 14th-century timber drain (S3) . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Fig 51 Plan of Waterfront 19 and its conjectured

FIGURES

xi

relationship to one found at Swan Lane . . . . . . . . 56Fig 52 View of piles supporting the baseplate of Waterfront

19 and showing the relationship to the front brace baseplate of the earlier Waterfront 18 . . . . . . . . . 57

Fig 53 Details of timbers from Waterfront 19 . . . . . . . . . 57Fig 54 Accessioned finds associated with the infilling of

Waterfront 19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Fig 55 Decorated leather sheath from the infilling

of Waterfront 19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Fig 56 Iron cup-and-pricket candle holder from

Open Area 14 and decorated shoe vamp from Open Area 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Fig 57 Copper-alloy spout from Open Area 15 . . . . 60Fig 58 Household items and dress accessories from

Open Area 16 dumps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Fig 59 Lead-alloy secular and religious badges from

Open Area 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Fig 60 Plan of late 14th-/early 15th-century Waterfronts 22

and 23, also showing their uncertain relationship to two late medieval revetments found at Swan Lane . . 63

Fig 61 View of Waterfront 22 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64Fig 62 The river frontage from Angel Alley to Ebbgate,

from the low-level panorama of the city c 1530 . . . . 67Fig 63 Plan of brick cellar (B13), cesspit (S4) and drain (S5) . 68Fig 64 Accessioned finds from the backfilled cellar (B13) . . 69Fig 65 Detail view of a section of timber drain (S5) . . . . . 69Fig 66 Plan of brick cellars (B14B15), chalk footing (B16)

and reused cask (S6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Fig 67 Details of an oak cask reused for storage adjacent

to Building 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Fig 68 The site as depicted in extracts from the Horwood

map of 1813 and the Ordnance Survey map of 1873 . 74Fig 69 Plan of buildings fronting on to Angel Lane and

Dyers Hall Wharf (B17B19) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Fig 70 Plan of wells/soakaways (S7, S11), cesspit (S8) and

possible timber structure (S10) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76Fig 71 Overview of the waterfronts found at Seal House,

Swan Lane and Riverbank House . . . . . . . . . . . 78Fig 72 Examples of London region treewrights work:

timbers [5062] and [5059] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Fig 73 Reconstructed front and side elevations of 14th-

century London timber waterfronts at Riverbank House, Watermark Place and Trig Lane . . . . . . . . 82

Fig 74 Medieval pottery from period 4 contexts dated c 11701220 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Fig 75 Medieval pottery from a period 4 context dated c 124070 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Fig 76 Medieval pottery from period 4 contexts dated c 12701350 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Fig 77 Medieval pottery from period 4 contexts dated c 13501400 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Fig 78 Medieval pottery from period 4 contexts dated c 14001500 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Fig 79 Medieval pottery dated c 1350c 1500from period 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Fig 80 Pottery dated to the 16th/17th centuries from period 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Fig 81 Lead-alloy openwork panel depicting the life and death of Thomas of Lancaster . . . . . . . . . 95

Fig 82 Iron tools and , copper-alloy hooked tool and spoon , and iron and bone razor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Fig 83 Copper-alloy buckles , strapend and mount . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Fig 84 Detail of a 14th-century leather scabbard , showing stamped decoration . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Fig 85 Medieval floor tiles , perforated tile and 17th-century wall tile . . . . . . . 107

Fig 86 Roman accessioned finds . . . . . . . . 110Fig 87 Copper-alloy needle case and netting needle

, and bone weaving tablets . . . 114Fig 88 Antler nut from a crossbow . . . . . . . . . . 116Fig 89 Copper-alloy lid from a container for nested

weights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117Fig 90 Copper-alloy plaque , probably depicting

the eagle symbol of St John the Evangelist . . . . . 119Fig 91 Lead-alloy mirror case and a possible iron

bell clapper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

xii

TABLES

Table 1 Details of nearby sites referred to in this report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Table 2 Breakdown of pottery fabric types from period 4 contexts dated c 11701220 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Table 3 Breakdown of pottery fabric types from period 4 contexts dated c 124070 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Table 4 Breakdown of pottery fabric types from period 4 contexts dated c 12701350 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Table 5 Breakdown of pottery fabric types from period 4 contexts dated c 13501400 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Table 6 Breakdown of pottery fabric types from period 4 contexts dated c 14001500 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Table 7 Breakdown of pottery fabric types from period 5contexts dated c 15501700 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Table 8 Copper-alloy, lead-alloy and iron mounts from the site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Table 9 Numbers of identifiable medieval small finds by period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Table 10 Details of the illustrated tile . . . . . 107Table 11 Details of the decorated Penn floor tiles from

Open Area 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107Table 12 Details of the illustrated Roman pottery

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108Table 13 Details of the illustrated medieval and post-

medieval pottery . . . . . . . . . . . 109Table 14 Charred and uncharred plant remains from

Riverbank House . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121Table 15 Faunal species distribution (hand-collected and

wet-sieved assemblage) by fragment count and period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Table 16 Faunal group distribution in each period by percentage fragment count . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Fieldwork by MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology) atRiverbank House between 2006 and 2009 revealed Roman,medieval and post-medieval waterfronts and buildings, addingto the archaeological record for a site in the City of Londonpreviously investigated in the early 1980s as Swan Lane. Thisprevious work uncovered a series of medieval timber waterfrontswhich remain largely unpublished and a wealth of artefacts,many of which appear in the Medieval finds from excavations inLondon series. The work reported in this volume relates to aseries of 22 trenches, mostly around the perimeter of the 1980ssite and located to mitigate the impact of piling associated withredevelopment. Although on a relatively small scale, theseinvestigations provide a northsouth transect showing theprogressive advance of the City waterfront from the Roman toearly post-medieval periods. The site lay just upstream of themedieval London bridge.

The Roman sequence included a 2nd-century AD timberwaterfront and associated building. A significant section of thelate 3rd-century AD masonry riverside wall was found, recordedand preserved. However, due to the limited investigation thatcould be carried out it was not possible to advance the debateabout its construction date.

Parts of 22 medieval waterfronts ranging in date from theearly 12th to the 15th centuries were recorded. Throughout thetext the Riverbank House waterfronts are related as far aspossible to those found both at Swan Lane and the adjacent SealHouse site. In addition to waterfronts, a number of buildingswere recorded. Most were fragmentary but they included a

substantial Saxo-Norman stone building, and parts of variousstone and timber buildings which lay in the five documentednarrow medieval tenements which ran from Thames Street inthe north down to the riverfront. Later buildings included 17th-century brick cellars on the Thames Street frontage, withindications of their destruction in the Great Fire of 1666.

Evidence for Continental trade and contacts comes from thepottery, with imports from the Low Countries and the Rhinelandbeing a significant proportion of the 15th-century pottery fromthe site. This probably reflects the considerable opening up oftrade with these areas by the London Hansa merchants duringthe 14th and 15th centuries. Interestingly, a desire on the part oflocal merchants to impress the nearby Hansa is one possibleexplanation for the unnecessarily robust 14th-century revetmentsrecorded here and on the adjacent Watermark Place site.

As with all waterfront sites, Riverbank House produced awide array of metal small finds comprising coins and jettons,tools, dress accessories and religious and secular badges fromdumps associated with waterfronts. Perhaps the most spectacularis the large devotional panel of (Saint) Thomas, Earl of Lancaster(12771322), a rare cult object from the 14th century. A rareContinental badge in Britain depicts Our Lady of Le Puy-en-Velay, France, and another unusual item is a lead-alloy crucifixthat may also be Continental in origin. These and other finds wererecovered from dumps or foreshore deposits, or from landfillbehind the waterfronts that came from the city, so can not befirmly tied to activities taking place on the site, but may berelated to local crafts and industries. For example, some of thefaunal remains show butchery and the industrial working ofdeer antler, goat horncores and cattle bones, along with hideremoval on a red deer. Five lead-alloy cloth seals, however, andplant remains of cultivated flax, teasel (used in textile finishing)and dyes such as madder, weld and greenweed confirm thepresence of a local textile industry, and can be tied to documentaryevidence for dyers and dyehouses occupying several of themedieval tenements.

SUMMARY

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MOLA is grateful to Pace Investments (City) Ltd, the City ofLondon Corporation and Helical Bar Plc for their supportthroughout this project. In particular we would like to thankJohnny Vincent of Pace Investments (City) Ltd for his interestand encouragement in this project.

The archaeological work was made possible by the excellentmanagement and coordination of the site work provided by anumber of individuals and organisations. Particular thanks go toPavlos Clifton and Lee Stentiford of GVA Second London Wall,Paul Singleton and the Keltbray team, Nigel Chard and MartinSheward of Sir Robert McAlpine, Narash Hirani of Arup andAlex Cartwright of AC DEVCO Ltd, who was enormouslyhelpful in ensuring that the Roman riverside wall could bepreserved in situ for future generations. Kathryn Stubbs, AssistantDirector Historic Environment, Department of the BuiltEnvironment, City of London, monitored the archaeologicalwork throughout, supported by Dominique de Moulins and

Jane Sidell of English Heritage whose advice and input at keystages was invaluable. The trenches were prepared by minersfrom Mulroney Ltd, with attendance support provided by thedemolition and groundwork contractors, Keltbray.

The author would like to acknowledge the followingMOLA field staff who worked on the project, including theevaluation and watching brief phases: Maddie Bacon, TanyaBowie, Marge Feryok, Jonny Gardener, Robert Hartle, IscaHowell, Sam Keenan, Anthony Morrin, Autumn Palmer, NikkiRamahtova, Gabby Rapson, Simon Stevens, Paul Thrale andSteve White. Additional support was provided by Mark Burchand Neville Constantine (geomatics), and the geoarchaeologyspecialists Jane Corcoran, Craig Halsey and Will Mills, whowere involved in the project at various times. Robin Wroe-Brown conducted the initial land-use analysis upon which thenarrative sections of this publication are based.

Jackie Keily would like to thank Erki Russow of theInstitute of History, University of Tallinn, for sharing hisknowledge of the Tallinn Bay merchants chest and its contentsand supplying the reference for it.

All involved in the project acknowledge a debt of gratitudeto Geoff Egan (19512010) who, through his work on the SwanLane site in the early 1980s and his expertise in small finds moregenerally, contributed so much to our understanding of themedieval and later London waterfronts.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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