Wandsworth Historical Society

The archaeology and history of the Borough of Wandsworth

Battersea : Balham : Putney : Tooting : Wandsworth Town

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31 January 2025 (Online via Zoom)

15th Nick Fuentes Memorial Lecture

'Hopes and fears - archaeology in the City of London after the War'

Dr Peter Marsden

Peter opened by saying that the work done by Nick Fuentes was fundamental to the success of archaeology in the City. Immediate post war archaeology in the City was led by Prof William Grimes who was digging from 1947 to 1962, the highlight his work being the finding the Temple of Mithras with many wonderful sculptures. Another figure from the early days was Ivor Noel Hume who was active from 1950 to 1957 when he went to USA.

Peter himself came to London in 1954 at the age of fourteen when the City was still covered with bomb sites. He started in 1954 helping with recording on building sites, including the discovery of a Roman Barge in Southwark. From 1960 he was employed by the City so worked on many digs until 1973. He said that he felt that he was always in a rush when working on building sites. Not much was known in early 1960s about the remote history of London but this changed with the amount of work that was done. The City of London Excavation Group was set up in 1964 with Nick and Peter. Nick and his successors led work done by volunteers at weekends, whilst Peter and other employed archaeologists worked during the week. Also in 1965 Ralph Merrifield's book on Roman London was published.

Peter then took us on a chronological journey through the history of London. Small traces of Boudican destruction in AD 60 were being found in 1960's. Then more of Flavian London (AD 69-96) was uncovered including Huggin Hill Baths. Roman walls were seen in Bush Lane when London was being rebuilt after the Great Fire, and more was found when Cannon Street Station was being built in the nineteenth century but the records of what was found are now lost. The archaeology appears to show that Cripplegate Fort was not occupied in later part of 2nd century and that fewer rubbish pits in the later 2nd to 3rd and 3rd to 4th centuries compared to the 1st to 2nd century indicate a fall in population.

A Roman shipwreck from the 2nd century was found in 1962. This was well reported in the newspapers at the time which fortunately led to its preservation. Billingsgate Bathouse was also scheduled as an ancient monument and office block plans for the site had to be modified. Archaeology in the City was finally better organised when in 1973 the Department of Urban Archaeology was created, which later became MOLA.

Colin Jenkins

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