Blomfield Worksite, Liverpool Street, 11-12 Blomfield Street, EC2 (Crossrail XSL10)

Blomfield Worksite, Liverpool Street, 11-12 Blomfield Street, EC2 (Crossrail XSL10)

Resource type

Dataset

Date published

2019

Abstract

Three trenches were excavated in the basement of the now-demolished 11 and 12 Blomfield Street and rearward extensions. Natural gravels were exposed in two trenches. In the E of the site, natural deposits were cut by a series of sterile waterlain clays sloping from W-E, probably from a relatively fast flowing section of the Roman Walbrook (or a tributary of it) whose ancient alignment is echoed in the current N-S orientation of Blomfield Street. A small fragment of Roman tegula roofing tile dated AD 50-160 was recovered from within a sandy dump deposit sealing this sequence, mortar on the broken edge suggesting reuse. To the west the sequence was repeated, with a naturally formed alluvial layer and inclusions of wood and plant suggesting formation in a semi-terrestrial environment, possibly delineating the eastern edge of the Walbrook. Again Roman pottery was recovered from overlying dump and/or reclamation layers. The earliest tentatively identified as a Roman round-bodied jar likely to be 1st century in date. A sherd of Roman natural blue-green glass was also recovered along with pottery common in London assemblages dated to the 1st-3rd centuries. This suggests that this part of the Walbrook may have been backfilled or become disused in the 2nd-3rd centuries, with dumped domestic rubbish utilised as landfill. In the lower double basement at the back of 11 Blomfiled, 19-c brickwork was exposed immediately below the foundation slab. A floor surface and wall formed of yellow stock bricks were of similar construction and probably contemporary appearing to relate to an earlier phase of construction, and may an be a retaining wall for the metropolitan line underground built in the 1870's. The basements and foundations of 19th and 20th-c buildings completed the archaeological sequence in all areas of the site.

Creator (organisation)

MOLA

Contributor (organisation)

Crossrail Ltd