Page:VCH London 1.djvu/150

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A HISTORY OF LONDON Arch. Journ. xxxiii, 356 ; Guildhall Mus. Cat. p. 107, No. 3. On finds in Basing Lane see also Arch. Rev. i, 274]. In the same year, between Cannon Street and Budge Row (near Tower Royal), Roman walls of Kentish rag, chalk, and bonding-tiles were unearthed at a depth of 12 ft., the founda- tions laid on wooden piles (Plan C, 155; ^^ Budge Row). To the west were 20 ft. of pavement of plain red tesserae (Plan C, 156), and piers formed of ordinary tiles, also a human skeleton laid in a deep trench. Among other finds were fragments of tiles, stucco, glass, pottery, &c. Some good specimens of ornamented Gaulish pottery are mentioned, also Up- church and Castor ware, and mortaria stamped albinvs and avavsf. With the skeleton were long nails, supposed to be from a wooden cofSn ; but the interment, if an actual one, may be of early date, being only just beyond the Walbrook. It is on the line of the supposed Watling Street; but it must be remembered that inhumation was not practised before about a.d. 250 [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, x, 190 fF.; lllus. Land. News, 1852, i, 308 ; see above, p. 22]. The western extension of Cannon Street was made in 1853-5, and to this period belong various small finds : an ash-coloured ' flower vase ' with ' frilled ' decoration, a ' harp-shaped ' bronze fibula, and a bronze key, all found near St. Swithin's Church (Plan C, 133) [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, xiv, 338, xv, 272 ; Lond. and Midd. Arch. Soc. Proc. (i860), 7], also a small bronze statuette of Hercules found at the west end of the street (Plan C, 192) [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc. X, 180 ; Proc. Soc. Antiq. (ist Ser.), iii, lOo]. Near St. Mildred's Church, and close to the site of Gerard's Hall (Plan C, 154), were found fragments of pottery, including Gaulish and Upchurch ware, a clay lamp, and a square glass bottle ; among the pottery were fragments stamped marti and of . severi [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, x, iii]. In 1854 a thick Roman wall of rubble and laers of red and yellow tiles was found at what is now the crossing of Queen Victoria Street (Plan C, 186), near which was a concrete floor of lime, sand, and broken tiles [Ibid.]. Section of earlier excavations is given in Jewitt's Reliquary, v, 49. In 1864 a tile 8 in. square, covered with a reticulated pattern and inscribed d n voc, was found, and is now in the British Museum [Arch. Journ. xxxiii, 356 ; Ephem. Epigr. iv, 207, No. 698]. In 1866, during the excavations for Cannon Street Railway Station (Plan C, 142, 143), fragments of a drinking cup inscribed qvi, a clay lamp with stamp in form of two feet, and a ' Samian olla of a type rarely met with in this country ' were discovered [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, xxiii, 1 00, 197 ; xxiv, 169]. On the same site (Plan C, 144 ; see Bush Lane) in 1868 were brought to light remains of buildings, including an apartment 40 X 50 ft., with floor of coarse red concrete, and a series of smaller ones with floors of red and yellow tesserae ; also pieces of herring-bone tile pavements^* (one in British Museum), and mosaics of variegated tesserae ; remains of drains or conduits lined with wood ; and fragments of wall-paintings, one with a roughly-sketched head of Medusa. Among numerous small finds were hypocaust and other tiles, many with pp . BR . lon {see p. 90), and some with impressions of animals' feet ; pottery, styli, spoons and knives, fibulae, spindles, keys, pins, beads, &c., and coins from Agrippa to Trajan (27 B.C. -a.d. 117) [Lond. and Midd. Arch. Soc. Trans, iii, 213 fF., with list of potters' names, mostly inaccurate; see also Bush Lane, Upper Thames Street]. In 1872 two pieces of Roman glass and a tile, 1 1 in. X 12 in. X 2^ in., inscribed vidvcos, were reported ; the latter was from the site of the Cannon Street Hotel (Plan C, 133), and is now in the British Museum [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, xxviii, 398; xxxviii, 206]. In 1877 another pavement was found near Bow Lane (Plan C, 1 84), 1 2 ft. below street level, com- posed of red, black, and white tesserae [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, xxxiii, 260]. A Roman bath has recently (1906) been discovered on the site of the Fire Brigade station (Plan C, 185) [Proc. Soc. Antiq. xxi, 229 ; Ar'ch. Ix, 214]. Much pottery in the British Museum, including an early Rutenian bowl of form 29 with stamp of Meddillus, a bowl of Lezoux ware (form 37), frag- ments of ' Belgic ' (early first century) and German wares, a jar with hatched patterns, fragments with stamps of Felix, Passienus, Secundus, Severus, and Silvinus (all first century), Marcellus, and Potitianus ; also a javelin [Coll. Antiq. v, 134], a bronze 'seal box,' and a pair of bronze vase-handles (Fig. 42). In the Guildhall, a Gaulish bowl with stamp of Patricus [Cat. 566], two lamps, a bronze key from the site of Gerard's Hall, and sundry implements. In the Fig. 42. — Bronze Handle of Vase from Bethnal Green Museum, a fragment of pottery, Cannon Street (|) found 1848, with of mont CF. " See p. 98 under Cloak Lane ; possibly the same. 96