thames discovery programme

Alderman Stairs FTH02

The zone is approximately 470m long and 30m wide. The only access to the
site is via Alderman Stairs in the centre of the zone; the stairs can be slippery
and lack a handrail. The eastern and western extents of the site are defined
by dock entrances. The ground conditions on the site are generally firm at
the top of the foreshore area however the lower part of the foreshore below
the jetty is deeper mud. There are some trip hazards in the form of
abandoned metalwork and the foreshore surface beneath the jetty is very
uneven.

archaeological and historical background

prehistoric
Very few artefacts of prehistoric date have been found in the local area. Recent work suggests that in the
west of the borough, Bronze Age activity was present on the high ground in the vicinity of modern
Bishopsgate. A hoard of bronze artefacts for smelting and re-use was found in the 19th century c 500m to
the west of the site at Lower Thames Street, and flint flakes and pottery of similar date have been
recovered from the environs of Tower Hill. An Iron Age inhumation burial was recovered from the Tower
of London during excavations in the 1960’s.

roman
The area lay outside of the probable limits of the early Roman settlement and was certainly divided from
the urban area by the construction of the city wall c AD180. To the east of the Londinium lay an extensive
cemetery stretching as far north as Bishopsgate and at least 1km to the east of the city walls. The earliest
burials in the cemetery can be dated to the late 1st century and interments continued to be made until the
end of the 4th century. The closest excavated sites are at Hooper Street and Prescot Street, approximately
500m to the north of the site. Residual Roman artefacts were discovered during excavations at the Royal
Mint site, immediately north of St Katharine’s Docks.

early medieval
The main focus of mid-Saxon settlement was a busy trading port around Covent Garden, in an area known
as Lundenwic. Re-occupation of the walled area of the Roman city only took place in the late 9th century,
and was initially focused on a relatively small area of the riverfront. Some churches do however seem to
have been established in the more sparsely settled areas. One of these was All Hallows Barking by the
Tower. The church lay on land owned by Barking Abbey (founded 675) and its construction can be dated
to c 1000. Settlement within the walls thrived and by the late 11th century space within the walls was at
such a premium that suburbs were already growing up along the principal arterial roads leading out of the
city. A late Saxon institution - the Knights Guild - was given a charter by King Edgar in the late 10th
century granting it a portion of land outside the walls ‘... left desolate and forsaken by the inhabitants...’.
This portion of land stretched from Bishopsgate to the Thames and included all of East Smithfield.

later medieval
The Hospital of St Katharine was founded by Matilda, wife of King Stephen, in the early 12th century. The
conventual buildings of the hospital lay in the St Katharine’s Dock area and were arranged around a
cloister which lay on the north side of the church. To the east of the conventual buildings lay a dock and
the riverside to the south became the site of St Katharine’s Wharf. Further to the north the Cistercian
abbey of St Mary Graces was founded by Edward III in 1350. The land on which it was established was
agricultural, confirmation of this is provided by the selection of part of the precinct as an emergency burial
ground during the Black Death (1348-9).

post medieval
The Dissolution of the Monasteries (1538-40) resulted in the Abbey of St Mary Graces being surrendered
to the crown in 1539. The Hospital of St Katharine escaped the Dissolution, and the Great Fire but
gradually fell into disrepair after the Plague decimated the area. The Hospital and church survived until the
advent of the Docks in the 19th century.
By the end of the 18th century various schemes to expand London’s dock capacity had lighted on the area
of St Katharine’s as a promising location for a new wet dock. Promoters of the dock scheme portrayed the
area as being filled with hovels occupied by the lowest sections of society. An Act to establish the St
Katharine’s Dock was passed in 1825 and work commenced to clear the 23 acre site, dispossessing
 without compensation 11,300 of the local inhabitants who did not hold the freehold or leasehold of their
homes. Construction took two and a half years and the new docks were opened in 1828.
The new docks were designed by Thomas Telford, and the architect was Philip Hardwick. A large basin
(one and a half acres) led to two docks, the East and West, each of four acres. Each Dock was
surrounded by warehouses of yellow brickwork, six floors high including two levels of vaults supported on
iron columns providing a total of 1.25 million square feet of storage. The warehouses lay close to the quay
front in order to facilitate the direct transfer of goods - which included tea, rubber, wool marble, wool,
tallow, matches and live turtles. The entrance lock to the basin proved to have been insufficiently large to
cope with the increasing size of merchant vessels. As a result goods had first to be transferred to lighters,
adding time and expense and reducing the financial viability of the docks.
The docks were heavily damaged during the Second World War. The commercial docks were finally
closed in 1968, the docks and basin subsequently being reused as a marina for leisure craft. Only a single
th
19 century warehouse survived the 1980s redevelopment of the dock area.

A101 Structure (unclassified) Wharf? Timbers beneath standing structure. Several phases.
A102 Timber Small vertical stake.
A103 Timber Timber. Part of ship working scatter?
A104 Timber Timber. Vertical roundwood post. Mooring post?
A105 Structure (unclassified) Bargebed? Timber. Extending at an angle into foreshore.
A106 Timber Timbers. Seven or more. Part of ship working scatter?
A107 Artefact scatter Industrial. Slag. 20.0m
A108 Timber Vertical, rectangular post. Mooring post?
A109 Timber Horizontal extending under standing jetty at 90' to it. Jetty? Hard?
A110 Artefact scatter Building material. Building debris/timbers/iron. Dumping?
A111 Timber Timber. Part of ship working scatter?
A112 Artefact scatter Industrial. Slag.
A113 Jetty Timber. Two rows following line of standing jetty.
A114 Shopping trolley
A115 Consolidation? Industrial waste.
A116 Drain Pipe. Stone/concrete 0.75m diam. Cut by standing structure.
A117 Structure (unclassified?) Metal structure. Recent.
A118 Drain? Stone trough. Semi-circular, 0.60 x 0.40m, with apparent gully.
A119 Artefact scatter Nails. Rivets.
A119 Jetty? Timber. Beneath standing structure. Several phases.
A120 Structure (unclassified) Crane base? Stone/Timber. Associated with A124
A121 Watercraft Boat. Clinker-built. Built into A124
A122 Consolidation Chalk.
A123 Structure (unclassified) Wharf? Timber platform with massive roundwood posts at corners.
Wharf? Two parallel rows of squared timbers. 25m long. Appears to be of
A124 Structure (unclassified)
several phases.
A125 Structure (unclassified) Wharf? Two phases of vertical timbers. Standing 3.0m high, with crane base
A126 Structure (unclassified) Crane base? Part of A125
A127 Artefact scatter Nails. Shipyard scatter?
A128 Structure (unclassified) Wharf? Timber. Three posts, drilled.
A129 Timber Square section at 45'.
A130 Structure (unclassified) Wharf? Timber posts.
A131 Artefact scatter Nails. staples, timbers - nautical?
A132 Artefact Complete pot. Modern.
A133 Timber Post. Roundwood. Mooring post?
A134 Timber Timber. Part of ship working scatter?
A135 Structure (unclassified) Timber. Four rows of three square posts. Truncated.
A136 Structure (unclassified) Wharf? Timber. Three rows of seven posts. Wharf?
A137 Jetty
A138 Structure (unclassified) Crane base? Dolphin? Timber and iron. Four posts structure with planks. Standing to 4.50m. with ironwork
A139 Timbers Timbers. Row of fenders.
A140 Agradation Sand at top of foreshore.
A141 Timber Timber structure. Large unworked tree trunk. Not wholly exposed. Forest? Ship working waste?
A142 Agradation Gravel on top corner of A143
A143 Bargebed Timber revetted stone construction.
A144 Agradation Gravel below A143
A145 Mooring posts? Timbers. Posts associated with standing quay.
A146 Timber Shipyard waste?
A147 Structure (unclassified) Timber. Two stakes, close to present quay.
A148 Access 'Alderman Stair.'
A149 Drain Bored log. Under A151.
A150 Structure (unclassified) Dolphin? Timber structure. 4 sawn off piles.
A151 Access Causeway associated with A148.
A152 Structure (unclassified) Brick and stone structure. Walls and floor. Between A125 and A148.
A153 Drain Several phases of drain in 'room' below Stair.
A154 Structure (unclassified) Wharf? Timber. 9 large verticals. Some drilled, some sawn suggests more than one phase.
A155 Structure (unclassified) Stone surface. Associated with A124
A156 Structure (unclassified) Crane base? Timber and iron. Vertical posts with ironwork, including vertical 'pipe'.