Three new books from MoLAS on St Benet Sherehog, Roman waterfront and Chelsea Old Church

11 March 2008

MoLAS is pleased to announce the publication of three new books on St Benet Sherehog, the Roman waterfront and Chelsea Old Church. All these books make an important contribution to our understanding of London's past.

Burial at the site of the parish church of St Benet Sherehog before and after the Great Fire: excavations at 1 Poultry, City of London

Archaeological work at 1 Poultry includes analysis of 280 burials associated with the medieval church of St Benet Sherehog and a post-Great Fire burial ground on the same location. Post-medieval coffins and coffin furniture indicate that the burial population is primarily late, with a fifth dated to before the Great Fire, although none were associated with the primary phase of the church.

The pre- and post-Fire parish is considered in terms of the documented population, occupations and wealth, and health and mortality. Evidence for the medieval church also includes discussion of religious life in the parish. 'Death and commemoration' looks at historical and archaeological evidence for funerals and burial practices. A detailed osteological account of the 17th- to 19th-century burial sample includes comparison with contemporary London cemetery populations.

Authors: Adrian Miles, William White, with Danae Tankard

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Roman waterfront development at 12 Arthur Street, City of London

New evidence for Roman London’s riverfront development is presented here, constituting an important addition to our knowledge of the foreshore, its waterfront, quays and buildings. Terracing in the mid 1st century AD was followed by the construction of timber quays as part of post-Boudican and later remodelling of the riverside.

The remains of major buildings include a possible early bathhouse as well as 1st- to mid 3rd-century AD high-status buildings with hypocausts, paved floors, mosaics and painted wall plaster – buildings interpreted as elements of residential complexes or townhouses. A large well contained the remarkably well-preserved elements of an elaborate rotary water-lifting device, comprising the wooden buckets and iron linking chain.

Authors: Dan Swift

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Late 17th- to 19th-century burial and earlier occupation at All Saints, Chelsea Old Church, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

Excavations at 2–4 Old Church Street revealed prehistoric activity, a Roman rural settlement, and medieval gardens and domestic occupation associated with a medieval manor house, although most of the evidence for settlement related to the post-medieval period, when Chelsea changed from a village to a riverside resort and finally a suburb.

A churchyard occupied the southern half of the site; here were recovered the skeletons of 290 parishioners buried between c 1700 and the mid 19th century, including two members of the Hand family who ran the Chelsea Bun House. The report considers various aspects of the cemetery, including its layout, and analysis of 198 skeletons provides demographic data for comparison with other London cemeteries and information on the health of this community.

Authors: Robert Cowie, Jelena Bekvalac, Tania Kausmally

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