134 OLD STREET, Islington, EC1V 9BL An Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment June 2016 134 OLD STREET, Islington, EC1V 9BL An Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment NGR: TQ324823 COMPASS ARCHAEOLOGY LIMITED 250 York Road Battersea London SE11 3SJ Telephone: 020 7801 9444 e-mail:
[email protected] June 2016 Author: Florence Smith Nicholls ©Compass Archaeology Ltd. ii Abstract In September 2015 Compass Archaeology were commissioned to conduct an archaeological desk-based assessment, (DBA), on the site of 134 Old Street, in the Borough of Islington, London, EC1V 9BL. The DBA is produced in support of a planning application to demolish the existing structure and erect a new ground floor plus five-storey building and the creation of a basement. Through the course of this desk-based assessment it has become clear that the site lies on a road that has existed at least since the Roman period. As can be seen from Ralph Agas Civitas Londinium (fig.8), in the 1570s, Old Street still lay outside the city walls, and it wasn’t until 1658 (fig.9) that the site appears to have been built upon. By the mid-18th century (fig.14) there was more concentrated urban development in the study area. Richard Horwood’s Plan of London and Westminster 1799 (fig.15) provides the first clear cartographical representation of ‘Tilney Court’ and the associated building on the site of 134 Old Street. The format of street frontage building and rear court appears to have remained largely unchanged to the present day. The site is considered to hold low potential for archaeological remains from the Prehistoric to Saxon periods apart from chance isolated finds.