Summary
Part of the Roman wall known as London Wall including bastion number 3.
Reasons for Designation
The section of the London Wall at Crosswall, No. 1 America Square and Fenchurch Street Station, including remains of the Roman wall and bastion number 3, is scheduled for the following principal reasons:
* Historic importance: London Wall was pivotal to the protection of London from the Roman period until far into the Middle Ages and was a key factor in determining the shape and development of the city;
* Survival: this part of London Wall incorporates standing remains (within the basement of No.1 America Square) as well as buried remains including the remains of bastion number 3;
* Documentation (archaeological): this part of the Wall has been recorded through excavation, providing important information regarding Roman and medieval civil engineering and construction techniques;
* Potential: the Wall retains potential for further investigation into its history and construction, particularly beneath Crosswall;
* Group value: this part of the Wall holds group value with the other surviving scheduled sections of London Wall and more widely with the scheduled Roman amphitheatre and public bath houses.
History
London Wall was constructed as part of an extensive programme of Roman public works between approximately AD 190 and AD 225. The Wall was about 3km long and enclosed an area of nearly 330 acres. It served to form the basis of the protection of the town far into the medieval period, and was also a key factor in determining the shape and development of both Roman and medieval London. The uniformity of design and construction of the C2 wall suggests that it was planned and built as a single project. It enclosed the whole of the landward side of the town from Tower Hill to Blackfriars, incorporating an existing military fort at Cripplegate. It was laid out in straight sections, linking the major routeways into London, and gateways were constructed at the points of entry at Aldgate, Bishopsgate, Newgate and Ludgate. Excavation has indicated that during the later Roman period a riverside wall was constructed parallel to the north bank of the Thames to complete the defensive circuit of London. The defensive nature of much of the Wall's circuit was strengthened by an external ditch, with the exception of those areas where the marshland around the Walbrook acted as a natural defensive feature. Internally, it was strengthened by a bank of earth.
The Roman Wall was built on a trench foundation of puddled clay, and included a rubble core interspersed with bonding tile courses. It is known to have stood to a height of approximately 4.4m above a sandstone plinth, and is considered to have been surmounted by a parapet walkway. Excavation has indicated that defensive bastions were added to the Wall in the C4, and a number were also added during the medieval period when the Wall was repaired and refortified. By the mid C16, however, with the continued expansion of London, its function as a town boundary and defence had ceased. London Wall survives in various states of preservation. Some parts of the Wall, especially along the eastern section, still stand to almost full height and the bastions are also clearly visible. Other parts are no longer visible above the present ground surface, but in these areas sections of the Wall survive as buried features, and sufficient evidence exists for their positions to be accurately identified for much of its length.
The eastern section of the Wall is recorded in various documentary sources. An account by John Stow (c1525-1605) records that the external ditch was re-cut in 1213 and the Wall was repaired in 1215, 1282, 1328 and 1477. The Wall is shown on the 1561 Agas map, Faithorne and Newcourt’s map of 1658, Hollar’s ‘Exact’ Survey of the City of London 1667 and on Ogilby and Morgan’s map of 1677.
INVESTIGATION HISTORY
Partial archaeological excavation in 1987 uncovered the buried remains of the southern part of this section of the Wall, running for 32m and including a bastion (number 3), beneath Fenchurch Street railway station. The excavation indicated that although the Wall had been partly truncated by the arches supporting the station above, and by side walls, it remains well preserved. The section of the Wall in the basement of No. 1 America Square was excavated and exposed during the construction of the building in 1987-8. Excavations at No.10 Crosswall in 1979 indicated that the section of the Wall immediately north of Crosswall has been degraded by modern development but good survival of the Wall beneath the street itself is considered likely.
Details
The monument includes a section of the Roman Wall running approximately 78m north-south. The southern part of the section, beneath Fenchurch Street Station, consists of a buried stretch of the Wall, 32m in length, with a bastion located at its northern end. The Wall stands to the first tile course, approximately 2m above the height of the plinth. The bastion, ‘D’-shaped in plan, stands to a similar height and projects some 4.4m eastwards beyond the external face of the Wall. It is built of similar material and is faced with ragstone, flint and limestone. Of C3 date, it contains fragments of earlier Roman fabric.
Beyond the railway station, the Wall continues northward and a 30m section is displayed in the basement of No.1 America Square. Here the Wall, divided into three visible upstanding sections, separated by walkways, stands in places to the height of its first tile course above the level of the plinth, approximately 2m. The Wall is up to 2.44m wide and an arched culvert, 1.5m wide and 0.5m high, has been built through the Wall just to the south of where it runs beneath Crosswall. The arch of the culvert is formed of bricks and is bonded into the Wall with chalk rubble and mortar.
At the northern end of the basement of No.1 America Square, the Wall is situated some 2.5m below the modern ground surface and is considered to survive as a buried feature continuing approximately 16m northward beneath Crosswall.
EXCLUSIONS
A number of features are excluded from the scheduling; these include the arches of Fenchurch Street railway station; the modern steps, walkways, railings and bases, glazed screens, display gravel, display board, concrete basement pillars and external walls at No.1 America Square; the tarmacadam or paved surfaces, including pavements, of Crosswall with any lamps and lamp posts, bollards, modern drains and drain covers, modern water pipes and electricity cables. However, the ground beneath all the above features is included.
