The Post-Roman Foreshore and the Origins of the Late Anglo-Saxon Waterfront and Dock of Æthelred’s Hithe: Excavations at Bull Wharf, City of London

Abstract

Evidence recovered on the site known from late ninth-century charters as Æthelred’s hithe illustrates successive phases in the early development of London as an international port. While two middle Anglo-Saxon female skeletons were found in foreshore deposits, coins and other metalwork, along with the remains of gangplank trestles, suggest the site was a trading shore from at least the later ninth century. Riverside construction followed by the late tenth century: several low waterfront embankments date to the late tenth and early eleventh century, the waterfront was divided into regular plots and timber buildings erected. Reused nautical and building timbers include fragments of a Frisian ship and an arcaded building.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The excavations at Bull Wharf were generously funded and supported by the developers, Markborough Properties UK Ltd. Particular thanks are due to Kevin McGovern, Liam Bond and George Koriakou of Markborough Properties UK Ltd. Work on site was facilitated by the contractors, Mace Ltd. MOLA is also grateful for the help of Kathryn Stubbs, City of London Assistant Director (Historic Environment), and Ellen Barnes of English Heritage, the former Inspector of Ancient Monuments for London Region.

The authors are grateful to the numerous MOLA field team and volunteers who worked under sometimes difficult circumstances to produce outstanding results. The supervisors were Julian Ayre (BUF90 and UPT90) and Duncan Lees (BUF90). Thanks are also due to the MOLA geomatics team for their support work.

The contributing specialists included Lyn Blackmore (accessioned finds), Julian Bowsher (silver halfpennies), Jan Conheeney (human osteology), Robert Cowie (additional text), Tony Dyson (documentary research), Damian Goodburn (woodworking; tidal levels), Dana Goodburn-Brown (conservation), John Minkin (timber), Jacqui Pearce (pottery), †Elizabeth Pirie (d. 2005) (Northumbrian stycas), Susan Pringle (ceramic building material), Ian Tyers (dendrochronology) and Keith Wilkinson (geoarchaeology). Peter Marshall (English Heritage) provided information about the radiocarbon dating; the assistance of John Clark and Lesley Cowie during the final stages of preparing this report is also gratefully acknowledged. Lyn Blackmore would like to acknowledge the Society for Medieval Archaeology for awarding her the Sudreys travel grant in 1998 to research the international connections of London in the ninth and tenth centuries and to thank the many overseas specialists who made that journey possible (not least Ute Drews, Schleswig) or who, together with James Graham-Campbell, Caroline Paterson, Gabor Thomas, Egon Wamers and Rosie Weetch, have contributed more recent information.

The project was managed for MOLA by Richard Malt, who, with Julian Hill, Gordon Malcolm and Peter Rowsome, also supervised the post-excavation programme. This article was edited for MOLA by Sue Hirst and Susan M. Wright, with Julian Hill. The graphics were prepared by Hannah Faux, Peter Hart-Allison, †Kikar Singh and Carlos Lemos, with photography by Andy Chopping and Maggie Cox.

Website

Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre, accessed February 2013 at http://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/community/getcom.php?id=66.n

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Julian Ayre

Julian Ayre and Robin Wroe-Brown, MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology), Mortimer Wheeler House, 46 Eagle Wharf Road, London N1 7ED (http://www.mola.org.uk) Email: [email protected]

Robin Wroe-Brown

Julian Ayre and Robin Wroe-Brown, MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology), Mortimer Wheeler House, 46 Eagle Wharf Road, London N1 7ED (http://www.mola.org.uk) Email: [email protected]