Medieval settlement to 18th-/19th-century rookery. Excavations at Central St Giles, London Borough of Camden, 2006-8

Abstract

• The development of this London suburb from the medieval period to the early 20th century is illustrated by excavations on the site of St Giles Court. Houses were first built along the High Street in the mid 16th century and 100 years later St Giles was at the heart of London suburban expansion and relatively prosperous. By the late 18th century the reputation of the St Giles area and its housing had declined. The site lay within the southern core of the area known as the ‘Rookery’ – a notorious late 18th- and 19th-century slum but from the archaeological evidence an area of contrasting lifestyles, households and businesses.