The Roman settlement on the south bank of the Thames, opposite the central core of Londinium, has often been regarded as a mere suburb of the city across the river. That view has been challenged by recent excavations in several areas of north Southwark, which have produced evidence of high status buildings and associated artefacts. One such site is described here.

• Contents of the report
• Summary of the main conclusions

Contents of the report

This major report is in five sections:

1. Introduction: geology and topography, methods of excavation.
2. Detailed description of the Roman phases. (Notable post-Roman features included a 17th-century masonry building and a clay pipe kiln, but these are not described in detail here.)
3. Artefact studies: comprehensive reports on prehistoric flints and pottery; samian and other Roman pottery; coins; glass; building materials; wall plaster; and a wide range of ‘small finds’ in iron, copper alloy, bone, stone, shale and jet.
4. Reports on environmental material, including plant remains; fish, animal and bird bones; human skeletons; dendrochronology.
5. Conclusions, setting the present site in the context of other excavations in north Southwark.

Summary of the main conclusions

The earliest features yielded pottery and flintwork dating to the Beaker period (late Neolithic/early Bronze Age; c 2200-1800 BC), the first such assemblage to have been found in central London. Later prehistoric occupation was represented by gullies containing Iron Age pottery. Some of these may have remained in use or been dug after the Roman conquest, because the finds also included Roman pottery and part of the sheath for an army pickaxe (dolabra). A series of clay and timber buildings followed, c AD 60-70 (Buildings 1-3). Their function is uncertain but a military presence on the site at this time is indicated by coins and copper alloy fittings, both from infantry armour (loricae) and from cavalry harness.

These structures were soon replaced by a substantial masonry building of courtyard plan (Buildings 4-5), which has been dated to AD 74, or shortly after, by dendrochronological study of the timber pile foundations. A series of modifications, initially in clay and timber but subsequently in masonry (Buildings 6-7), followed during the 2nd and 3rd centuries. The later phases are notable for the presence of rooms with hypocausts and mosaics, and for the use of high quality building material, such as glass tesserae, circular hypocaust tiles and exotic marble. The ceramic building material assemblage differs from that found on sites in the walled city but is comparable with other Southwark assemblages, and includes some products associated with the Roman navy (classis Britannica). The building may have had a public function, possibly as a mansio providing accommodation for the cursus publicus (imperial posting service) and other government officials. Significantly, its position was at the southern approach to Londinium, close to the junction of two main roads.

The building appears to have been dismantled from the late 3rd century onwards, possibly in stages over a considerable period. By the middle of the 4th century its site was being used as a burial ground. Thirteen inhumations were excavated, sometimes with grave goods. Their presence indicates that by this time the Southwark settlement had contracted, perhaps to a small enclave around the bridgehead.

Layers of dark grey silt sealed the burials and all other Roman deposits on the site, and were themselves cut by medieval and post-medieval pits. These layers, it is argued, represent biological reworking of archaeological strata rather than deliberate dumping from outside.

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