Archaeological Investigations at 103—106 Shoreditch High Street, Hackney
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ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT 103—106 SHOREDITCH HIGH STREET, HACKNEY Peter Boyer With contributions by Lucy Allott, Philip Armitage, Märit Gaimster, Kevin Hayward, Chris Jarrett and Kevin Rielly SUMMARY eastern side of Shoreditch High Street in the London Borough of Hackney (Fig 1). During 2008 and 2009 archaeological investigations It was bounded to the south by the Crown were undertaken at 103—106 Shoreditch High Street. Plaza Hotel and to the north and east by The earliest material discovered on site consisted of a commercial and residential properties. The scatter of residual Roman finds. However, the earliest Ordnance Survey National Grid Reference datable activity was medieval and comprised the for the centre of the site is TQ 3346 8253 and establishment of boundary ditches and the excavation the surface elevation lay at approximately of quarry pits along the eastern side of the High Street 16.5m OD. on the edge of the village of Shoreditch. During the An archaeological desk-based assessment 16th and 17th centuries the site was partly used as produced in advance of redevelopment a rubbish dump; faunal material recovered from these (Gailey 2007) indicated that the site, which lay deposits included evidence of both animal carcass within an Archaeology Priority Zone (APZ), processing and relatively high status dining, while the had a potential for the survival of Roman and associated finds included a piece of carved stag-horn medieval remains, despite extensive basement inlay. Over time the amount of activity on site steadily truncation within the western portion of the increased, reflecting the transformation of Shoreditch site. In order to satisfy a planning condition High Street into part of suburban London. Structural placed on the proposed development, an features constructed during the 17th century included archaeological evaluation was carried out by a brick-lined culvert. One early 18th-century cesspit ASE between May and September 2008 (Site finds assemblage may be connected with the Jane Shore Code: SDQ08). The evaluation comprised public house, which occupied the southern part of the the excavation of three trial trenches and the site from the late 17th century. monitoring of other intrusive development works (Fig 2), the excavation for a crane base INTRODUCTION in a south-central location being particularly informative (Jamieson & Harwood 2008). Between May 2008 and February 2009 This phase of work confirmed the presence archaeological investigations were carried of archaeological deposits and resulted in a out by Archaeology South-East (ASE) and requirement for further work across a larger Pre-Construct Archaeology Ltd (PCA) on area of the site. The latter work was carried land at 103—106 Shoreditch High Street in out over three main phases by PCA (Fig 2) advance of redevelopment of the site for a between November 2008 and February 2009 hotel extension. The site was located on the (Site Code: SDV08). This article includes 201 202 Peter Boyer N N C A L V E R T A V E N U E 533450/182580 R O A D A D 111-114 S L A N D R O K I N G 110 H A C K N E Y S H O R E D I T C H H I G H S T R E E T 109 107-108 S t L e o n a r d ' s C h u r c h E E T S T R A2 O L D A1 103-106 R E E T S T T S Tr2 S i t e o f G R E A T Tr3 H o l y w e l l THE SITE A3 P r i o r y H I G H H G I H E A S T E R N Tr1 crane base S T R E E T H C T I D S T R E E T R E D C H U R C H S H O R E R O H S 533450/182510 Hotel 100 148 Areas 1-3 (Nov 2008 - Feb 2009, PCA) A T E Trenches 1-3 & crane base (May - Sept 2008, ASE) O P S G 0 50m S p i t a l f i e l d s B I S H M a r k e t C O M M L i v e r p o o l Fig 2. Area and trench location plan S t r e e t S t a t i o n E R C I A L S T R E E T BACKGROUND Geology and topography The underlying solid geology of the site consists of Eocene London Clay. The British C I T Y O F L O N D O N Geological Survey Sheet 256 (North London) A L D G A T E shows this to be overlain by drift geology of 0 500m Pleistocene date comprising the Hackney Terrace gravels. During the archaeological interventions on the site natural deposits Fig 1. Site location plan consisting of terrace gravel were observed throughout the areas investigated. A maximum elevation of 13.56m OD was the results of both phases of fieldwork. The recorded for the surface of natural deposits aim of this article is to place the fieldwork in the northern central area of the site and within a chronological framework, while also despite truncation of the western side of the considering the relevant cartographic and site a surface elevation of 13.46m OD was documentary evidence, together with the recorded during the evaluation in this area. results of other archaeological investigations The surface of the natural sands and gravels in the Shoreditch area. appears to have sloped down towards the east as the maximum surface elevation recorded in the eastern part of the site was 13.24m Figure 1 Site Location 1:12,500 at A4 Figure 2 Trench Location 1:1,000 at A4 Archaeological Investigations at 103—106 Shoreditch High Street, Hackney 203 OD. It is likely that the terrace gravels were number of locations either side of Ermine originally capped by natural brickearth Street (Hall 1996; Thomas et al 1997; Barber deposits but although ‘brickearth’ was & Hall 2000), and a small number of burials recorded in some areas during the evaluation were also excavated during investigations and excavation phases, this material appears as part of the ELLP (Bull et al 2011, 23—4). to have been redeposited, the natural Other Roman deposits revealed during the brickearth having been entirely removed by ELLP work south of the study site were rather extensive truncation. The current surface of sparse but included quarries and drainage/ the site lies at approximately 16.5m OD. boundary ditches, with finds assemblages suggesting some activity throughout much Archaeological and historical background of the Roman period (ibid, 18—23). Other sites nearby including Spitalfields (Thomas There is little evidence for prehistoric et al 1997, 11—13) and 201 Bishopsgate (Swift activity in the vicinity of the site, and the 2003) have also recorded evidence of non- sparsely distributed prehistoric artefacts that funerary Roman activity. have been recovered have invariably been Although the settlements of Haggerston residual finds in later contexts. A Mesolithic and Hoxton, to the north of Shoreditch, are flint axe or adze is recorded from Great recorded in Domesday Book, Shoreditch Eastern Street, some 250m south-west of is not, despite the name probably being of the site, and occasional prehistoric artefacts Saxon origin; neither is there evidence of were recovered during archaeological activity during the Anglo-Saxon period in interventions prior to construction work on the vicinity of the study site, though two the East London Line Project (ELLP), which Saxon artefacts were recovered from later traversed an area across the Boroughs of contexts during work on the ELLP (Bull Hackney and Tower Hamlets. Finds included et al 2011, 28). It is likely that Shoreditch a further Mesolithic flint adze and struck was founded in the late 11th or early 12th flints of Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age century with development focused on the and Late Bronze Age date (Bull et al 2011, area that is now the junction of Shoreditch 14—16). High Street, Kingsland Road and Old Street, There is a little more evidence for activity close to the junction of the earlier Roman in the vicinity of the site during the Roman roads. St Leonard’s church, located adjacent period, particularly given its location close to the junction and less than 100m north to a former Roman road and a junction of the study site, was apparently founded with another: Shoreditch High Street and during the 12th century (Fig 1). Little Kingsland Road to the north follow the archaeological work has taken place in the approximate line of Ermine Street, the vicinity of the present church, which dates to Roman road from London to Lincoln and 1738—40. The earliest known documentary York (Margary 1955, 170). Old Street, which record of Shoreditch is a manuscript dated forms a junction with Shoreditch High 1148 that refers to ‘Scoreditch’, which Street approximately 200m north of the probably means the ditch of Sceorf or Scorre site, followed the line of another east—west (Weinreb et al 2008, 836). Roman road. A small assemblage of Roman Between 1152 and 1158 Holywell Priory building material and pottery was found was established some 300m south-west of during investigations at 183—185 Shoreditch the study site, the priory precinct eventually High Street c.100m south-west of the site extending to within 60m of the site (Fig 1). (Dawson 2008, 8) and possible evidence of A significant proportion of the medieval Roman-period ground consolidation was archaeological evidence in the vicinity of the identified at New Inn Yard approximately site comes from within the former precinct 200m south-west of the site (Mayo 2003; (Bull et al 2011, 34—83).