Page:VCH London 1.djvu/64

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A HISTORY OF LONDON of the third century,' some bearing the busts and names of Victorinus (265-7), Tetricus I and II (267-73), and Claudius Gothicus (268-70). Another vessel containing coins, not specified but of the lower Empire, was found with a skeleton on the site of Messrs. Barclay & Perkins' brewery (Plan A, 64).'* A skeleton and vase, together with sepulchral remains, were found in 1825-6 during excavations for the foundations of Trinity Church, Newington (Plan A, 57) ; " though further details are wanting, this burial may be considered similar to those just described. A Roman cemetery was found in 18 18 extending from a point opposite the Red Cross Inn (200, Borough High Street) about 750 ft. along King Street (now Newcomen Street, Plan A, 58), and containing human bones (apparently unburnt), utensils, urns, dishes and coins ; and in the middle of the street, 80 ft. from the Borough entrance (Plan A, 65), lay a skeleton surrounded by sepulchral urns, glass lamps, sandals and remains of the dress. In Union Street (Plan A, 59) a body had been laid on oak planks with ledges all round, at a depth of 7-8 ft. below the carriage-way, with glass vessels of the usual forms.^ The few middle-brasses of Domitian thrown up with fragments of Roman bricks, in the vicinity of St. Mary-at-Hill, Monument, cannot be held to date the burials found in the same ground. In 1774 the bones of several children and of five or six adults were discovered on the site, "° east of Love Lane, but ' as there were no circumstances of curiosity attending any of these particulars,' their Roman origin must remain in question. Beyond the Wall on the west, the ' vast quantities of human remains ' found at two points in Newcastle Street (Plan A, 60), on the east bank of the Fleet,^"^ may be regarded as Roman, as the site is close to Seacoal Lane where a stone coffin was found, and close to the Roman road westward from Newgate. One group was discovered at a depth of 5 ft. at the west end of the street, just east of a brick wall that had evidently been built to support the bank ; and the other 20 ft.— 30 ft. up the street at a depth of 6 ft. or 7 ft. ; but no further details are recorded and we can only infer that the remains were unburnt and the coffins (if any) were of wood and had perished before the discovery was made in 1844. Near the western border of the City and in a line marked by burials of various descriptions, some interesting finds were made by Wren during excavations for St. Paul's. Roman cinerary urns found on the north side of the Churchyard are noticed above, and on this site the superposition of unburnt Roman burials seems to be established, though Wren assigned the latter to the British period. With them he says, were found in abundance ivory and wooden pins,'"' of a hard wood resembling box about 6 in. long. It seems that the bodies were only wrapped up and pinned in woollen shrouds, which being consumed, the pins remained entire.'"' Another discovery not precisely located but close to the Cathedral (Plan A, 61) was made in 1869."* During excavations for a foundation a female '« Gent. Mag. 1825, ii, 633. »' Allen, Hist. ofLond. i, 36. ^ Figured by W. Taylor, Annals of St. Mary Overy (1833), pi. ii, figs. 1-4; for the burials see pp. II, 12. "" Arc A. iv, 362. "" Arci. Journ. i, 162. Pottery, a stylus and two coins of Constantine were also found. ™Such were also found at Netting Hill {supra, p. 23). ^'^Parentalia (1750), 266. ^'^ Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, xxviii, 193. 24