Based on the work of Professor W. F. Grimes for the Roman and Mediaeval London Excavation Council, and related research by the Museum of London and by University College London.
With contributions by Tony Dyson, Jacqueline Pearce and Mike Webber. Illustrations by Susan Banks.
Ebook (PDF) published 2012.
The Cripplegate area of London was the site of a Roman fort and later of medieval structures and artefacts. Excavations between 1946 and 1968 by Professor W. F. Grimes for the Roman and Medieval London Excavation Council were carried out on 25 bomb-damaged sites, and were preliminarily reported by him in 1968. As part of a major post-excavation programme funded by English Heritage from 1992 to 1997, the archived material from these excavations are being fully published in a series of five volumes, of which this book is one. This report analyses the material afresh and re-appraises Grimes' work. It discusses the post-Roman structures and artefacts of the medieval defences, secular buildings (including evidence of Saxon London), parish churches, and a medieval hospital. Finally, these structures are put into a more contextual framework in a discussion of the dating and development of the street pattern of medieval Cripplegate.
Author(s): Gustav Milne, Nathalie Cohen
Series: English Heritage Archaeological Reports
Publisher: English Heritage
Year: 2001
Language: English
Pages: XIV+154
City: Swindon
List of Illustrations vi
Acknowledgements ix
Abbreviations x
Summary xi
Resume xii
Zusammenfassung xiii
1. War and peace
Medieval archaeology after the Blitz 1
RMLEC excavations in Cripplegate 3
2. London Wall
Revealing the City's medieval defences 9
City ditch, with Mike Webber 9
Pottery sequence from the City ditch at Cripplegate Buildings (WFG18) by Jacqueline Pearce 19
Bastions: Blla, B12, B13, B14 and B15 24
Discussion 30
City Defences viewed from Cripplegate 35
3. Houses and halls by Nathalie Cohen and Gustav Milne
Secular medieval buildings in Cripplegate 37
Sunken-featured buildings at Addle Street 38
Sunken-featured buildings in the City 39
Town House: Neville's Inn by Nathalie Cohen 40
Brewers' Hall by Nathalie Cohen 45
Barber Surgeons' Hall by Nathalie Cohen 53
Company Halls 66
A settlement development pattern for medieval Cripplegate 66
4. Parish church
Church archaeology in the City 69
St. Mary the Virgin Aldermanbury 70
St. Alban's, Wood Street by Natalie Cohen 86
St. Alphage and Elsing Spital 100
St. Mary Elsing 105
5. Townscape and topography
Using RMLEC data for topographical studies 119
The archaeology of micro- and macro-topography 119
Saxon street plans 120
Fields and streets within the walls 120
Dating the Cripplegate streetscape 122
Churches and settlement expansion 126
The tradition of a Saxon palace at Cripplegate with Tony Dyson 127
Dating the wards 129
6. 'Si Monumentum Requiris, circumspice'
Cripplegate's medieval monuments 133
Archaeology after the Blitz: excavation or evaluation? 133
Bibliography 137
Index 141
