Crossrail: Archaeological Investigations Conducted in Advance of Construction of the Elizabeth Line

Crossrail: Archaeological Investigations Conducted in Advance of Construction of the Elizabeth Line

The construction of Crossrail through the heart of London has resulted in one of the most extensive archaeological programmes ever undertaken in the UK. The project has given archaeologists an exceptional opportunity to record important parts of London’s history.

The Generic Written Scheme of Investigation (WSI) was prepared in consultation with English Heritage and relevant County and local authority archaeologists to ensure a consistent approach across the route and throughout the life of the project.

One of the core objectives of the Crossrail archaeology programme was the dissemination of archaeology information to the wider archaeological community, together with a focused education and outreach programme for local communities.

Years of research have been carried out to understand the impact that construction will have on the archaeology along the route. Moreover, Crossrail’s archaeological team will be producing detailed reports on their findings. All the significant artefacts will be provided to the Museum of London and the Natural History Museum.

Collection Details
Creator (organisation)
MOLA
Language
English
Related URL
Licence
CC BY 4.0

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    Custom House Station, Victoria Dock Road (Crossrail XTI13)
    (2019)
    MOLA
    4 trial trenches and two window samples exposed former wood peat (intrepreted to be the former backswamp area of the Thames Floodplain) overlying late Pleistocene Shepperton Gravels. Above the peat was estuarine influenced alluvial clay.
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    Finsbury Circus, Liverpool Street (Crossrail XRZ10)
    (2019)
    MOLA
    Two phases of archaeological excavation (two general watching briefs and one evaluation with one trench) were carried out at the site of Crossrail Finsbury Circus Shaft by the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA), between 11/03/11 to 01/04/11. 19th-century garden soil horizons overlying post-medieval dumps were recoreded at a maximum depth of 9.86 OD. These were related to the reclimanation of land overlying Moorfields Marsh. Medieval marsh deposits sealed Roman cut features at 8.6 OD. These included a possible quarry pit and intercutting ditch and pit. Natural Gravels and sand were truncated to a maximum depth of 7.92 OD. Combined general and targeted watching briefs were carried out at the site of Crossrail Finsbury Circus Shaft by the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA). Natural Gravels and sand were truncated to a maximum depth of 7.95m OD. A channel exposed in the western area of the shaft footprint may have been the route of the Early Holocene Walbrook River. Medieval marsh deposits sealed Roman cut features at 8.73m OD. These included two [rubbish] pits dated to the second century AD. Post-medieval dumps relating to the reclaimation of land overlying Moorfields Marsh were recorded at a maximum depth of 9.86m OD. A robust, well preserved NE-SW aligned culvert dated 1666-1800 was also recorded immediatly beneath the foundations of a recently demolished Victorian building. 19th-century and later garden soil horizons associated with sites current use as a park/bowling green filled the shaft to ground level.
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    Service Diversion VDP, Victoria Dock Road, Seagull Lane (Crossrail XSX11)
    (2019)
    MOLA
    Archaeological watching briefs carried out by the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) on the Crossrail Victoria Dock Portal worksite, which consisted of utilities diversions centred around Victoria Dock Road and Seagull Road. Generally, trenches were excavated to a depth of 2.0m. Natural terrace gravels were overlain by thick peat deposits sealed by a horizon of alluvial clay. All deposits were archaeologically sterile. The sequence was sealed by modern made ground and the concrete and tarmac of the current road and pavement surfaces. Three trial trenches and a targeted watching brief afforded the opportunity to record and sample the sequence above the Pleistocene Thames gravels (from 3.3m below OD). The sequence consisted of potentially early Holocene river meandering to tidal creek formation at the base to prehistoric wood peats before rising sea level created the later, probably historic, estuarine floodplain. Of interest is the evidence for a fluvial or extreme weather, event at the eastern end of the site. No artefacts or structures were recovered.
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    Farringdon Eastern Ticket Hall, Phase 2 Mitigation, Hayne Street (Crossrail XTE12)
    (2019)
    MOLA
    A series of investigations were undertaken at the site of the new Farringdon Eastern Ticket Hall (ETH) and the surrounding streets between 2011 and 2013, culminating in a phase of excavation located in the north-east of the site. In addition two trenches were excavated within the gardens of Charterhouse Square in 2014, as part of a community project. The trench locations were informed by a Forensic Geophysical Survey produced by Keele University, and were restricted by root preservation orders. The interventions at the ETH uncovered a relatively complete sequence from natural deposits through to 20th-century features, although there were localised areas of complete truncation. A solitary medieval adult burial and a series of metalled surfaces were recorded within the gardens of Charterhouse, forming part of a sequence dating from the medieval period to the 20th century.
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    Service Diversion North of Woolwich Portal, Albert Road, Factory Road (Crossrail XSV11)
    (2019)
    MOLA
    A general watching brief was undertaken by MOLA at the North Woolwich Portal worksite which consisted of utilities diversions centred around Albert Road and Factory Road. This work was undertaken as part of a wider programme of assessment to quantify the archaeological implications of railway development proposals along the Crossrail route. The North Woolwich portal site lies within an Archaeological Priority Area. There are no scheduled monuments or listed buildings within the site. Underlying the tarmac surface, modern make-up varied in depth from 0.70m to 2.5m below ground level. Generally, trenches excavated to a depth of 2.0m and deeper revealed alluvial soils under modern made ground and tarmac. No archaeological remains were exposed within the shallow sequences. A minerogenic alluvium and peat sequence was recorded beneath modern made ground and tarmac in the deeper trenches which were excavated to a depth of c3.0-4.0m below ground level. The potential for palaeoenvironmental and topographic evidence within the alluvium and peat sequence was moderate to high. However, fieldwork has demonstrated that little archaeology remains within the deeper alluvial sequences. Timbers preserved within the peat deposits were of no archaeological significance, representing driftwood preserved within the marginal wetland. No archaeological structures or associated features indicative of human occupation were observed. At the western end of Factory road, by the Tate and Lyle Sugar Factory, a series of levelling and dump deposits were revealed within the upper made ground to a maximum depth of 2.0m below ground level. These are likely to represent the foundations for the construction of the North London line railway established here in 1847. Natural geology was not exposed. Four trial trenches and a targeted watching brief on the eastern half of the portal enabled recording of the alluvial sequence above the natural Pleistocene Thames gravels. A meandering river of potentially early Holocene date, interspersed with higher sand and gravel floodplain on which Mesolithic activity took place. Flint scatters were observed in three trenches indicating that the shoreline environment was used by people from this period onwards. By the time of the Mesolithic\Neolithic transition, peat had formed above the sand and gravel before rising sea levels in the Roman or later periods inundated the area to deposit alluvium in an estuarine floodplain. The results of the three evaluation boreholes when used to update previous deposit modelling broadly confirm anticipated findings. High areas of Pleistocene gravels and early Holocene sand form dry land islands with a low lying channel floodplain. These dry island areas have the potential for Mesolithic activity. Channel routes migrated and silted up in these deeper channel areas during the early Holocene. Subsequently, river levels continued to rise over the Late Mesolithic to Bronze Age, resulting in transgression and regression episodes, which waterlogged these drier island areas allowing for dense wetland vegetation to develop. As further inundation occurred, thick clay alluvial deposits formed, levelling out the terrain, with any former depressions in the flood plain area silting up. Woodland became increasingly waterlogged and died off, and the landscape would have become much more open. Because of the potential for Mesolithic archaeology, related to hunter-gatherer-fisher activities centred on the gravel island and exploiting the nearby resource rich wetland of the channel marginal zones, and for associated deep organic sequences preserving significant palaeoenvironmental data concerning the development of the River Thames in east London, the results from North Woolwich Portal are assessed as being of regional significance.
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