Roman Waterfront Development at 12 Arthur Street, City of London

Abstract

• New evidence for Roman London’s riverfront development is presented here, constituting an important addition to our knowledge of the foreshore, its waterfront, quays and buildings. Terracing in the mid 1st century AD was followed by the construction of timber quays as part of post-Boudican and later remodelling of the riverside. The remains of major buildings include a possible early bathhouse as well as 1st- to mid 3rd-century AD high-status buildings with hypocausts, paved floors, mosaics and painted wall plaster – buildings interpreted as elements of residential complexes or townhouses. A large well contained the remarkably well-preserved elements of an elaborate rotary water-lifting device, comprising the wooden buckets and iron linking chain.