Page:VCH London 1.djvu/193

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ROMANO-BRITISH LONDON two bronze spatulae, and a blue glass armlet [MS. Cat. Mayhew Coll. No. 41]. In the Guildhall Museum are bronze armlets, a glass vessel, and a clay lamp. Among other finds reported are sundry bronze, iron, and bone implements, and a strainer or colander of earthenware [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, xx, 257 ; xxv, 246, pi. 16, fig. 4 ; Illus. Land. News, 12 Mar. 1864, 267]; a dupondius of Nero ^ourn. Brit. Arch. Assoc, xxiii, 198]; 'a drinking-glass brilliantly coloured,' found apparently about 1877 [Ibid, xxxiii, 262; see also Lond. and Midd. Arch. Soc. Trans, iii, 75, 213 ; a list of potters' names, somewhat inaccurate, is given on p. 217]. Mr. J. E. Price says : 'The Roman level seemed to be from 20 ft. to 25 ft. Many piles and transverse beams were found driven into the clay, some 18 in. square, no doubt the remains of the old embankment of Roman London. It has been suggested, from the number of antiquities, that there was an ancient rubbish-pit here.' He also mentions a bronze figure in low relief, identified as Spes, and coins of Claudius, Nero, Vespasian, and Domitian, Gaulish and Upchurch pottery, ' pillar-moulded ' glass, sandals well preserved, and sundry small imple- ments [Lond. and. Midd. Arch. Soc. Trans, iii, 67, 75]. In the British and Guildhall museums are pottery and other objects from Thames Street, whether Upper or Lower not being specified. The former include fragments of Lezoux ware (stamps of Beliniccus and Lupinus), one with the stamp of the German potter Dignus, and a pendant bronze figure with two faces ; the latter, Gaulish ware with stamps of Montanus and Silvanus, a bowl with slip decoration, a jar of dark grey ware with 'scored ' patterns (first cen- tury), a mortarium with stamp of Albinus _Cat. 581, 488, 460, 408, 630], a lamp-stand [Cat. 81], bone implements, a key and a spear-head, and a water-pipe [Cat. 119; cf. Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, xxix, 77]. The Guildhall objects may be from the excavations of 1848 and 1859 in Lower Thames Street [see above). On the Wall here, between Lambeth Hill and Queenhithe, f^^y/rc^. xxix, 150 ; xl, 41 ff. ; and p. 70 above, with Plan C, 62-64. Threadneedle Street (Plan C, 59, 94). — In 1841 traces of a coarse red tessellated pavement were found under the ruins of the French Protestant Church, opposite Finch Lane (Plan C, 59), at a depth of 12 ft. ; it measured 6 ft. by 5 ft., and had patterns of squares and lozenges in white and black, filled with rosettes, 'labyrinths,' and other devices. Fragments of similar pavements, remains of frescoes, coins of Claudius, M. Aurelius and Faustina II, and Constantine were also found. Part of a passage was subsequently unearthed, also another pavement, 13^ ft. long, in variegated tesserae, with a rosette in the centre. The two pavements are now in the British Museum [Arch, xxxix, 400 ; Soc. Antiq. MS. Min. xxxviii, 149; Ilhu. Rom. Lond. 55, pis. 9, 10 ; Morgan, Rom. Brit. Mosaic Pavements, 183, 184]. A third pavement was found in 1844 [Morgan, loc. cit.]. A lead pipe found near by was supposed to have been connected with the baths of this house or villa [Lond. and Midd. Arch. Soc. Trans, ii, 2]. Ornamented Gaulish pottery, bronze fibulae, and coins mentioned by Roach Smith [Arch, xxix, 153]. In 1895 excavations were made at No. 62 (Sun Fire Office ; Plan C, 94), on the 'north side, and at about 20 ft. down fragments of pottery and glass were found. At 27 ft. was a shallow bath (5 ft. 3 in. by 5 ft. 3 in. by 2 ft.), reached by two semicircular steps ; it was formed of rough stone mixed with broken tiles, and had a floor of opus signinum. The walls were plastered, and the whole rested on a substructure of concrete [Arch. Journ. Iii, 198; Arch. Ix, 218]. Pottery was also reported in 1897 while the works for the Central London Railway were in progress, together with a decapitated skeleton, the period of which is doubtful [Antiq. xxxiii, 1 04]. Fragments of Gaulish pottery in British Museum (mostly from Roach Smith), with stamps of Vitalis, Cinnamus, Dagomarus, Doeccus, Latinus, Marcellus, Namilianus, and Reginus (all but the first and last being Lezoux potters). Also a fragment of painted red ware and four lamps, one with name of attilivs, the others with thesubjectsof Jupiter, Cupid, and a lion seizing a deer. In the Guildhall, a Lezoux bowl, with figures in panels, of form 30 [Cat. 440]. See also Bank of England. Three Kings' Court, Lombard Street. — Miscellaneous finds, now in Guildhall Museum : clay lamps [Cat. 66, 1 16], prow of ship ? [Cat. 122], spindle-whorl, and pottery. Throgmorton Street (Plan C, 98, 99). — At the corner of Bartholomew Lane (Plan C, 98), at about 12 ft. below the surface, in 1854 a Roman well was found, formed of squared chalk, containing charred wood 3 ft. thick ; ornamented Gaulish pottery, glass bottles, and a bronze fibula with yellow patina were also found [Arch. Journ. xiii, 274]. A bronze fibula, plated with tin or some white metal, was exhibited to the Archaeological Institute in 1856, presumably not the above-mentioned [Ibid. 288]. Roman pottery, 'with ornamentations in white,' reported 187 I [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, xxvii, 373]. In the Guildhall are a clay lamp with I 129 17