Development on Roman London's western hill: excavations at Paternoster Square, City of London

Abstract

• Redevelopment allowed reassessment of 1960s work and review of Roman activity on the western hill south of the main east–west road. Evidence of pre-Roman drainage towards the Fleet valley was overlain by the main road and external activity dated to c AD 50. Pre-Boudican strip buildings lay along the main road and secondary roads, whilst pottery and other finds hint at a military presence, perhaps within a civil context. Roads and properties were re-established after the Boudican fire and included residential, commercial and industrial activities. More substantial post-Hadrianic buildings were set back from the roads but overall activity declined in the later Roman period, with burials cutting a disused secondary road, and external areas including evidence of animal husbandry and bread wheat preparation.