London, 1100-1600: The Archaeology of the Capital City

345 Pages·2011·19.03 MB·English

by  John Schofield

LONDON 1100–1600
Studies in the Archaeology of Medieval Europe
Series Editor: John Schofield
This series brings together new archaeological studies of medieval Europe
(1100 to 1600). We want to describe life in medieval Europe and to show
how archaeology does this. It is a new form of history. There will be studies
of regions such as the North Sea, of subjects such as towns or castles, and of
relevant areas of study such as ceramics. To what extent was Europe a cultural,
economic and religious entity? Understanding leads to appreciation, and
that leads to a concern for conservation of our common European past.
The authors will be drawn from Britain and other European countries.
Published
Castles and Landscape: Power, Community and Fortification in Medieval England
O.H. Creighton
Medieval Towns: The Archaeology of British Towns in their European Setting
John Schofield and Alan Vince
Forthcoming
The Archaeology of Medieval Czech Lands, 1100–1600
Jan Kláps�te�
The Archaeology of Medieval Spain, 1100–1500
Magdalena Valor and Avelino Gutiérrez
The Archaeology of the Irish Sea Region, 1100–1500
Kieran O’Conor
Medieval Europe Around the North Sea
Brian Ayers
LONDON 1100–1600
THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF A CAPITAL CITY
John Schofield
Published by Equinox Publishing Ltd.
UK: Unit S3, Kelham House, 3 Lancaster Street, Sheffield S3 8AF
USA: DBBC, 28 Main Street, Oakville, CT 06779
www.equinoxpub.com
First published 2011
© John Schofield 2011
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or
by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information
storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-84553-551-3 (hardback)
ISBN 978-1-908049-72-8 (paperback)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Schofield, John, 1948-
London, 1100-1600 : the archaeology of a capital city / John Schofield.
p. cm. – (Studies in the archaeology of medieval Europe)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-84553-551-3 (hardback)
ISBN 978-1-908049-72-8 (paperback)
1. London (England)–History–To 1500. 2. Excavations
(Archaeology)–England–London. 3. London (England)–Buildings,
structures, etc. 4. London (England)–Social conditions. 5. London
(England)--Antiquities. 6. Archaeology, Medieval–England–London. I.
Title. DA680.S36 2011
942.1–dc22
2010049233
Typeset and edited by Queenston Publishing, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Printed and bound in the UK by the MPG Books Group.
Contents
List of figures vi
Foreword xi
Acknowledgements xii
1. Introduction 1
2. Public buildings and concerns 11
3. Castles, palaces and royal houses 42
4. Houses, daily life and neighbourhoods 60
5. Selling and making 114
6. Religion and religious ways of life 159
7. Human health and the environment 198
8. London’s region 220
9. Medieval and Tudor London after 1600 241
Notes 263
Appendix 280
Bibliography and abbreviations 282
Index 308
v
List of figures
Cover: part of an anonymous painting of the City of London from the south, painted
about 1630 but based on earlier drawings of around 1600 (MoL)
1.1 Map of the London region as studied in this book, with its surrounding 2
towns and villages
1.2 Main features of the City of London around 1100 5
1.3 Extent of the central medieval conurbation 9
2.1 The 13th-century seal of the City of London, showing St Paul defending the city 12
2.2 A reconstruction of a typical section of the City wall by 1500 13
2.3 A rectangular interval tower on the City wall south-west of Ludgate 14
2.4 Plan of Bishopsgate by William Leybourn in 1676 16
2.5 The exterior of Aldersgate of 1617, as engraved in the middle of the 18th 18
century
2.6 View through the second arch of London Bridge looking east, by E W 20
Cooke in 1831
2.7 Plan of the north end of London Bridge, undated but probably shortly 21
after 1632
2.8 London Bridge from the south-east, drawn by Wyngaerde about or shortly 22
after 1540
2.9 The southern part of London Bridge by Wenceslaus Hollar in 1647 23
2.10 Plan of the relationship of the 12th-century Guildhall building to the 24
north side of the underlying Roman amphitheatre
2.11 The eastern undercroft of Guildhall, photographed in 1896 25
2.12 An angel carved in the vaulting of the Croxton undercroft of Guildhall 26
2.13 Reconstruction of the north range of Leadenhall by Mark Samuel 27
2.14 Interior view of Leadenhall chapel by John Carter, about 1785 28
2.15 The market house at Barking (Essex), by an unknown artist in 1799 29
2.16 Excavation of the vaulted sub-structure of the 13th-century Great Conduit 31
in Cheapside at the One Poultry site
vi
List of figures
2.17 Fragments of the lead medieval conduit pipe were found on the 32
Paternoster Square site in 2001
2.18 The timber riverwall or revetment of about 1220 excavated at Billingsgate 35
Lorry Park in 1982
2.19 The Bishopsgate suburb in 1577–98, from the drawing of London from 38
the north
3.1 Elevation of the south side of the White Tower, showing different mortar 43
types revealed in recording of 1997–8
3.2 Extract from Hollar’s plan of the City as damaged in the Great Fire of 1666 45
3.3 Plan of the Palace of Westminster and the main buildings of the adjacent 47
Westminster Abbey, about 1350
3.4 Some of the decorated tiles of the floor in the chapter house of 48
Westminster Abbey
3.5 The north front of Westminster Hall, as engraved in about 1800 49
3.6 Excavations in 1970–1 in the Grand Square of the Naval College at Greenwich 51
3.7 Reconstructed plan of Bridewell Palace 52
3.8 The south-east corner of the main court of Bridewell Palace, recorded 53
during demolition in the early 19th century
3.9 Westminster Hall and its surroundings about 1560, based on the copperplate map 55
3.10 Reconstruction of Edward III’s house at Rotherhithe around 1400, from 57
recent excavations
4.1 How a medieval lane was formed: four periods of building along the lane 62
leading to the 12th-century Guildhall
4.2 The townhouse of the Bishop of Winchester in the 12th century. 63
4.3 Map of the medieval aristocratic residences between the City of London 65
and Westminster, around 1400
4.4 The Inn of the Bishop of Ely in Holborn in the late 18th century 67
4.5 An undercroft of about 1290 at Gisors’ or Gerard’s Hall in Basing Lane 69
4.6 The four types of house plans used in analysis of the Treswell surveys 71
4.7 Plan in 1610 of the White Hart brewhouse and its neighbours in 73
Knightrider Street, City of London, by Ralph Treswell
4.8 Holy Trinity Priory Aldgate: reconstruction of part of the noble mansion 75
in 1585, from plans by John Symonds
4.9 A stone cesspit probably of 14th-century date on the Watling Court site, 76
on the west side of Bow Lane, in 1978
4.10 Little Pickle, Bletchingley (Surrey): a medieval manor house 79
4.11 Interior of the hall of Furnival’s Inn during demolition in the early 19th century 83
4.12 Sketches of timber-framed buildings suggested by study of joints on 85
excavated waterfronts at Trig Lane
vii
London 1100–1600
4.13 A late 16th-century range in Grub Street, Moorfields, which survived the 86
Great Fire to be recorded in the early 19th century
4.14 Detail of the Old Palace, Hatfield, of about 1485 87
4.15 Buildings of 1640–66 excavated at Billingsgate Lorry Park in 1982 91
4.16 Pit 81 at Milk Street, looking east 95
4.17 Ash bowl from Pit 116 at Milk Street, 13th century 96
4.18 Medieval shoes from excavations in London 97
4.19 A small lead candlestick from Swan Lane Group A49, found in 98
reclamation of the period 1180–1270
4.20 Finds from Group A74 at Swan Lane, Upper Thames Street, 1981: dress 100
accessories
4.21 Finds from Group A74 at Swan Lane: knives and scabbards 101
4.22 Small houses on the edge of Fleet Ditch in 1612, from a Treswell survey 112
5.1 Reconstruction of a block of five shops in Abchurch Lane, from the 117
Treswell surveys
5.2 The London waterfront immediately above the Bridge around 1540, by 119
an unknown artist
5.3 Section through the dormitory range of St Helen’s nunnery in 1799 120
5.4 Plan of the Crowne Inn, Aldgate, by Ralph Treswell in 1610 122
5.5 A long-distance carrier leaves London via Gray’s Inn Lane in a panorama 124
of London drawn from the north about 1598
5.6 The proposed date-ranges of local, regional and imported pottery wares 126
(fabrics) in London, from 1100 to 1600
5.7 Jugs in the museum’s collection from Saintonge in south-west France (MoL) 128
5.8 The London Steelyard, as shown by Wenceslaus Hollar in 1647 130
5.9 Reconstruction of the barge of about 1400 from Blackfriars 136
5.10 Swan Lane, City of London, site plan for the late 12th century to about 1220 138
5.11 Part of Hollar’s view of the City in 1647 showing cloths hanging from the 140
window of a building suggested to be a dyehouse
5.12 Mills and noble houses on the Southwark waterfront 142
5.13 Eleventh- or 12th-century carpenter’s axe from Milk Street 146
5.14 Twelfth-century capital in Reigate stone from excavations at Holy Trinity 148
Priory, Aldgate
5.14 Morton’s gatehouse of brick with stone dressings, of about 1490, at 150
Lambeth Palace
5.16 A kiln for bricks or for lime shown on the copperplate map of about 1559 151
5.17 Excavation of a waster pit from a 14th-century pottery kiln at Eden Street, 153
Kingston
5.18 Monumental brass on the tomb of Ralph de Hengham in St Paul’s Cathedral 156
viii
List of figures
6.1 Plan of the medieval cathedral in its proposed relationship to its Wren 160
successor
6.2 The 12th-century nave of St Paul’s, by Wenceslaus Hollar in 1657 161
6.3 Moulded stones from recent excavations at the cathedral 162
6.4 The entrance to the choir or New Work in 1656, by Hollar, with proposed 163
dates for the various parts of the masonry
6.5 Some of the City churches on the copperplate map of c 1559 165
6.6 The development of two parish churches as revealed by excavation 166
6.7 St Mary Willesden, in an engraving of 1807 168
6.8 St Ethelburga Bishopsgate, plan in 1929 169
6.9 Timbers from the belfry of St Ethelburga’s church being assembled in a 171
car park in north London
6.10 Pilgrim souvenir badge from Old Lady Undercroft at Canterbury Cathedral 176
6.11 Map of the religious institutions in and immediately around the City by 1400 178
6.12 Plan of St Helen Bishopsgate, a combined nunnery and parish church 181
6.13 Reconstruction of half of one bay of the tracery from a cloister of the late 183
14th century at Merton Abbey
6.14 A brass rubber at work at St Helen Bishopsgate in 1972 188
6.15 Two pieces of a mullion from a large window at Holy Trinity Priory, 190
reused in a rough foundation of brick about 1600
6.16 The effects of the Dissolution at St Bartholomew Smithfield, by about 1630 191
6.17 Wooden effigy of the Virgin and Child in Mondoñedo Cathedral, Spain 193
6.18 Wall at the east end of the south aisle of St Botolph Billingsgate church, 194
which was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666, excavated 1982
7.1 Skeleton of a man aged 32–35, 10th to 12th century, from the St Nicholas 199
Shambles site excavated in 1975–9
7.2 Skeleton of a woman aged 32–35, also from St Nicholas Shambles 200
7.3 Reconstruction, cutaway without the end wall, of Building 103 of the 206
third quarter of the 12th century on the Guildhall site
7.4 Pits on medieval properties at Milk Street, City of London, excavated in 1977 207
7.5 Plan by Ralph Treswell of Clothworkers’ Hall, Mincing Lane, and its 211
garden in 1612
7.6 Formal gardens south of the Strand, as shown by Hollar about 1658 213
7.7 St Giles in the Fields church and gardens, by Hollar around 1658 214
8.1 Section and plan of the Harmondsworth barn in 1937 222
8.2 Plan of the medieval manor at Northolt, from excavation in the early 1950s 225
8.3 Marks manor house, Dagenham, drawn for Lysons’ Environs of London 226
in 1796
8.4 Rear view of Eastbury House, Barking, in 1796 228
ix