Summary
A sequence of Roman quayside structures and a Roman riverside wall built between the 2nd century and 3rd century surviving as buried remains. The area covered by the Roman wharves also includes a medieval building surviving as buried remains.
Reasons for Designation
The site of Riverbank House, Upper Thames Street, is scheduled for the following principal reasons:
* Historic importance: the Roman quays and riverside wall hold particular historic significance for their association with the origins and development of England’s capital city, the establishment and operation of the port, and the nature of the city’s defences;
* Survival: the Roman riverside wall survives particularly well on this site, including a length over 20m long with the stone superstructure surviving up to 1.4m high, whilst the Roman timber quayside structures uncovered through excavation have demonstrated an exceptional level of preservation for organic remains;
* Documentation (archaeological): this part of the wall and port has been recorded through archaeological excavation, providing important information regarding Roman and medieval civil engineering and construction techniques, as well as archaeological deposits relating to the quayside;
* Rarity: Riverbank House is one of only four such sites currently known where the Roman riverside wall has been confirmed to survive and remain in-situ;
* Potential: the Roman riverside wall and Roman quayside retain a high degree of potential for further investigation, which will provide valuable insights into the construction of the wall and the history of the port;
* Architectural importance: the Roman riverside wall incorporates reused monumental masonry and is thus an important source of architectural information relating to monuments, buildings and structures from the Roman city;
* Group value: this site shares group value with the other surviving sections of the riverside wall at Sugar Quay, Three Quays, and The Tower of London, as well as with the scheduled sections of London Wall, and a number of scheduled monuments relating to Roman London, such as Queenhithe dock (Schedule entry 1001994).
History
The port of Roman London (Londinium) was established from the mid-1st century, which led to the construction of a succession of wharves, revetments and docks on the north bank of the River Thames over the course of the next two hundred years. The river foreshore was 100m further inland than it is today; currently beneath buildings next to Upper and Lower Thames Street. The Roman quays built between the late 1st century and 3rd century gradually advanced southwards to create space for warehouses and dockside facilities and also to accommodate a gradual drop in the river level; the quays had to expand into the river to remain usable. Perhaps most notable among these quays, was a heavily built and sophisticated Roman ‘box quay’ constructed in about the mid-2nd century. It was formed of a series of caisson-style boxes built of very substantial timbers which have been found to survive exceptionally well. The box quay is indicative of a major investment in the Roman dockside infrastructure during this period. In the later 3rd century, the fortunes of the Roman port significantly changed with the construction of the Roman riverside wall (see below). This seems to have severed the connection to the quayside, which was no longer maintained, indicating that protection of the city now took priority over river trade.
The landward Roman defensive wall is now known as London Wall. It was constructed as part of an extensive programme of Roman public works. The wall was, until recently, considered to have been built between about AD 190 and AD 225, pre-dating the riverside wall, but subsequent analysis of dendrochronological data has led to the suggestion that both structures were built at the same time, in the later 3rd century, although this is not yet certain (Sheldon 2010 cited in Mackinder 2015, 11). The landward 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 wall suggests that it was planned and built as a single project. London Wall was built on a foundation of puddled clay and included a rubble core interspersed with bonding tile courses. It is known to have stood to a height of about 4.4m above a sandstone plinth and was surmounted by a parapet walkway. Excavation has indicated that defensive bastions were subsequently added to the wall.
The Roman riverside wall was built during the later 3rd century, connecting the south-east and south-west extents of the landward city wall. The wall is thought to have been built to the rear, or on the rear, of the earlier riverside revetments. It broadly ran just to the south of the current line of what is now Upper and Lower Thames Street, and has been identified at eight separate sites: Baynard’s Castle, St Peter’s Hill, Riverbank House, Seal House, New Fresh Wharf, Sugar Quay, Three Quays House and The Tower of London (Wood 2019). It is currently (2022) known to survive in-situ on at least four of these sites: Riverbank House, Sugar Quay, Three Quays, and The Tower of London. In contrast to the landward wall, there was considerable variation in the construction of the riverside wall. At Baynard’s Castle, the wall was recorded as having a foundation of Kentish ragstone blocks rammed into London Clay. The superstructure of the wall on part of this site was recorded to 2.2m high and built of ragstone interspersed with occasional tile courses. It incorporated culverts to enable water to drain southwards into the river. There were later repairs with large sculptured stones from a monumental arch and an ornamental screen. On the sites of Riverbank House, Sugar Quay and Three Quays House, the riverside wall was built with a foundation of five rows of oak piles supporting a chalk raft. The wall above this was variously constructed from monumental reused Roman stonework, including numerous door jambs, or from rubble. Partial excavation at the Tower of London has uncovered a late section of the wall, that differs from the piled sections, and was built 4m to the north of the earlier riverside wall. The existing river wall may have still stood at this time and this later wall may therefore represent some form of strengthening or a platform.
Following the decline of the Roman Empire, permanent settlement within the walls of the Roman city appears to have largely ceased between the end of the 4th century until the late 9th century (Hill 2015). However, by the 7th century a nucleated settlement known as Lundenwic had developed on the north bank of the Thames to the west of the abandoned Roman town. This was an undefended trading post or emporium. The return to the Roman town, where the defensive walls were still standing to a considerable height, was a result of Viking attacks which caused Lundenwic to become untenable (Ibid). In AD 886 King Alfred ordered the reoccupation and fortification of the former Roman city through the establishment of a burgh. The riverside defences were repaired and harbours were established at Queenhithe, Dowgate and Billingsgate, which may have been where gaps in the Roman riverside wall occurred; Thames Street later developed in the C11 probably to link these wharves. The Roman riverside wall was eroded by the river, although the construction of embankments to make good the gaps in the riverside wall did occur in some places. The eastern waterfront of the city was radically altered from 1078 by the construction of The Tower of London. The principal route along the medieval waterfront was Thames Street which marked the base line for subsequent encroachment south into the river. Several quayside structures are recorded in this area in the medieval period. The Great Fire of London in 1666 damaged much of the waterfront as far as the Tower, but rebuilding was swift, and the subsequent arrangement of the quays lasted with relatively little modification until Second World War bomb damage and post-war redevelopment (Ibid).
The site known as Riverbank House, Upper Thames Street, (also previously called the Swan Lane site) was partially excavated in 1981 to 1982 (Brigham and Hillam 1990, 111-117) and 2006 to 2009 (Mackinder 2015) prior to redevelopment. The 1980s excavations partially uncovered a sequence of five Roman timber waterfronts. The first structure was a substantial mid-2nd century quay built of six tiers of squared baulks. It was followed by a late 2nd century post-and-plank revetment to the south constructed in two sections separated by a timber-lined drain, an early 3rd century open-fronted landing stage, and then a post-and-plank revetment and a quay built of horizontal baulks in the mid- to late 3rd century. The 2000s excavations focused on a series of 22 trenches around the perimeter of the site whereby archaeological deposits not under threat of disturbance by piling were preserved in-situ and a length of Roman riverside wall uncovered was fully retained and protected by the construction of a steel box infilled with sand around the exposed sections of masonry. The investigations recorded part of the 2nd century Roman box-quay, a possible Roman dockside building, as well as the Roman riverside wall of the later 3rd century. There then followed part of a late C11 or early C12 building and, further to the south beyond the extent of the Roman waterfront, a succession of medieval waterfronts and associated buildings ranging in date from the early C12 to the C15. The area formed five tenements from about the C12 and there are records relating to the owners and occupants of these tenements in the C13 and C14 (see Mackinder 2015, 26, which names these tenements one to five from west to east). Tenement one was owned by Isabel de Leyre in 1328, tenement two was used for a brewhouse with a wharf in the C14, tenement three was known as Le Swan and owned by St Peter’s Church, Westchepe in 1431, tenement four included a dyehouse and a workhouse in 1374, whilst tenement five was owned by St Paul’s Cathedral from 1344 to the Reformation and included a brewhouse. After the Great Fire of London, this area was increasingly occupied by warehouses and brick cellars are recorded on this site in the C17; warehousing occupying much of the riverside through into the C20. In the early 1960s a multi-storey car park called Ebbgate House was built on the site before further redevelopment in 1982 and 2009 when Riverbank House was constructed.
Details
PRINCIPAL FEATURES
A sequence of Roman quayside structures and a Roman riverside wall built between the 2nd century and 3rd century surviving as buried remains. The area covered by the Roman wharves also includes a medieval building surviving as buried remains.
DESCRIPTION
Roman wharves
A sequence of five Roman timber quayside structures was recorded during partial excavation. The first structure was a substantial mid-2nd century quay built of six tiers of squared baulks. It was followed by: a late 2nd century post-and-plank revetment to the south constructed in two sections separated by a timber-lined drain; an early 3rd century open-fronted landing stage; and then a post-and-plank revetment and a quay built of horizontal baulks in the mid- to late 3rd century. In association with the early phase of quayside development was a mid-2nd century Roman dockside building with a wall nearly 3m long and 0.6m wide that was built of flint blocks, Kentish ragstone and a tile course upon timber piles. The northern end of the wall was built over by the later Roman riverside wall (see below). Further remains of the Roman waterfront structures survive beyond those revealed in the pile and excavation trenches; the extent of the structures was shown to continue between and beyond the limits of the trenches.
The Roman riverside wall
The Roman riverside wall constructed in the later 3rd century survives on this site; partial excavation uncovered a 20m length of the wall, with the stone superstructure surviving up to 1.4m high above the substantial foundation, which continued beyond the limits of the trenches. The wall is built of a foundation formed of timber piles supporting a chalk raft upon which is laid the stonework of the wall. This comprises a plinth formed of Reigate stone blocks and one or more tile levelling courses upon which the wall is set back about 0.2m from the face of the plinth and built of a flint core and a Kentish ragstone facing. Built up against the wall is a late C11 or early C12 building, 12m wide and built with a chalk foundation that was subsequently rebuilt in the C12 with Kentish ragstone, Reigate stone and chalk rubble walls. Further remains of the Roman riverside wall and medieval building survive beyond those revealed in the pile and excavation trenches.
EXCLUSIONS
The modern building of Riverbank House is excluded from the scheduling but the ground beneath is included. All modern pavements, street or road surfaces, bollards, traffic lights, lamps or lamp posts, signs and sign posts, pipes, drains, cables and services are also excluded from the scheduling but the ground beneath these features is included.
