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    • 1974 New Fresh Wharf
    • 1974 - Seal House
    • 1974 - Trig Lane
    • 1975 - 48–50 Cannon Street
    • 1975 - Baynard's Castle
    • 1975 - GPO
    • 1975 - Ken Dash Photo Diary
    • 1976 - 160–162 Fenchurch St
    • 1976 - Milk Street
    • 1977 - Gracechurch Street
    • 1978 - Bridewell Palace
    • 1979 - 8–10 Crosswall, EC3
    • 1979 - Miles Lane
    • 1979 - Peninsular House
    • 1981 - Copthall Avenue
    • 1981 - Cornhill
    • 1981 - Pudding Lane
    • 1981 - St Peter's Hill
    • 1981 - Swan Lane
    • 1982 - Aldersgate
    • 1982 - Billingsgate Market
    • 1982 - Billingsgate Video Snapshots
    • 1982 - Foster Lane
    • 1983 - 3-5 Bishopsgate
    • 1983 - Fenchurch Street
    • 1984 - Leadenhall Court
    • 1985 - 94–97 Fenchurch Street, EC3
    • 1985 - Fish Street Hill
    • 1985 - Queen Street
    • 1987 - Moorgate
    • 1987 - St Bartholomew the Great churchyard
    • 1987-88 Merton Priory-DGLA
    • 1988 - Cannon Street Station North
    • 1988 - Dominant House
    • 1988 - Fleet Valley
    • 1988 - Friar Street
    • 1988 - Ormond House
    • 1988 - Pilgrim Street
    • 1988 - Thames Exchange
    • 1989 - Colchester House
    • 1989 - Leadenhall Street
    • 1990 - St Brides Lower churchyard
    • 1994 - Regis House
    • 2000 - Blossoms Inn
    • 2006 - The Walbrook
  • Ian's Insights
    • Abacus House, 33–39 Gutter Lane, EC2
    • Archaeology through the lens
    • Audrey Baines 'Trowel Blazer' in the City of London
    • Belle Tout Well Shaft
    • Belle Tout Well Shaft Update
    • Billingsgate memories or Mad as a hatter
    • Britain's first banana found in Tudor Rubbish
    • Clapton Logboat
    • Cricket
    • Denis Ballard - A Life Well Lived
    • Gladiatrix’: or hands up, who threw that banana skin into the arena?
    • Deptford Royal Dockyard (Convoys Wharf)
    • Extended tour of duty
    • From the Elephant Man to Bedlam
    • Goodness gracious, Great Fires of London
    • Grave expression
    • Heavy Metal on Regis House
    • Ivor Noel Hume-The end of an era
    • John the desk Byrne
    • Leaden Curse
    • Lloyds Register of Shipping
    • Lock, Shop, and Twenty Smoking Barrels
    • Low Down on Low Hall
    • Milestone or Millstone
    • Monument House BPL95 (2)
    • Oh No Mates
    • Rebuilding London 1954 cartoon
    • Regis House Gantry Collapse
    • Shortage of archaeologists'
    • That was then, this is now
    • The Fallen: remembering a lost generation
    • The home of the DUA
    • The Three Wise Men of Gotham
    • UNSUNG HEROES - Pat Connolly and Alan Gammon
    • Walbrook to Williamsburg
    • What goes around, doesn't always come around
    • What price an archaeologist?
    • When is a quarry pit, not a quarry pit
  • Unstratified
    • Bonfires at Trig Lane
    • From Jon Price 1979-82
    • Graham Troillet
    • Ian Betts Building Material Flyer and leaflet
    • John Maloney's paper for LA50
    • Kevin and Derek's Party Photos
    • London Archaeologist DUA Round Ups
    • Mike Copper Gift
    • Not Cricket
    • Paul Tyers Photo Album
    • Trevor Brigham Days Out
    • Trevor Brigham Forum Model
    • Two photos taken in Smallhythe Kent
    • Whisper Dictionary from Jamie Muir
  • Excavation Round Ups and Articles
    • LA Round Ups
    • LA Articles
    • LAMAS Articles
  • Videos
    • Billingsgate Market (BIG82)
    • Geoff Egan Memorial Video
    • Discovering the Port of Roman London - Gustav Milne
    • Fleet Valley Project
    • Pudding Lane Video
    • Recording of Radio Programme in 1979.
    • The Rose Playhouse from Dafydd Davies
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Our original aim and raison d'être, was to document the life and times of the hundreds of largely forgotten archaeologists who worked for the Department of Urban Archaeology (1973 – 1991), but this has been expanded to better reflect the story of the archaeologists, from the early pioneers to the present day, who excavated London.


 

Heavy Metal on Regis House

Written by Ian Blair

For a period of several weeks on Regis House, our superb metal-detectorist Pat Connolly (more of him in a later post), had been getting ever-more excited by a massive signal that was given off as he passed the detector over an area of one of the Roman quayside warehouses destroyed in the Hadrianic fire. Further excavation revealed that the signal had its origins in 3 large lead ingots (stamped with the Emperor Vespasian’s name) which had been deliberately hidden beneath the warehouse floor.

Read more: Heavy Metal on Regis House

Speak-Up magazine first page

 Speak-Up

Written by John Maloney

In 1991, I was asked by this magazine - for the international study and practice of English, with audio and glossaries, written and spoken in native English, with information, culture and leisure for Italians [there were editions for various other languages] who use English as a second language - to write about the archaeology of the City of London. It features a glossary on every page featuring translations of ‘technical’ terms, some of those that caught my eye were ~ ‘muddy’ is ‘fangoso’; ‘fast track’ is ‘superveloce’ and ‘vagary’ is stravaganza.’
The article features a general introduction to archaeology in the City, then focuses on the discovery of the Roman amphitheatre. It comments about the difficulties of interpreting urban archaeological remains where perhaps some 60% or more of the original archaeological deposits have been removed unseen and makes the point that ‘Rescue archaeology’ is dependant on developers and what sites they want to build on and that the DUA does not choose the sites it digs. It ends by noting the lack of a state archaeological service and a safety net in times of sudden, severe recession, with consequent redundancies of staff.

Read more: Speak-Up


  The DUA (Department of Urban Archaeology), managing archaeological investigations in the City of London 1973-91

Written by John Maloney

Read more: John Maloney's paper for London...


Two photos taken in Smallhythe, Kent, by Rysz Bartkowiak during the making of Time Team Episode 6, Series 6 (1999)

From Trevor Brigham

Two photos taken in Smallhythe, Kent, by Rysz Bartkowiak during the making of Time Team Episode 6, Series 6 (1999), where Time Team were looking for a 15th-century dock next to the River Rother, one of a number of episodes with MoLAS involvement.

Read more: Two photos taken in Smallhythe Kent

 THE WHISPER DICTIONARY

[Devised at the Custom House, Seal House, Angel Court, Trig Lane, St Magnus, and New Fresh Wharf Sites 1974-5
Edited by Jamie Muir who writes,
"A lot of [misplaced] youthful energy went into the devising of the attached. Everybody had a hand. I don’t think it’s libellous."

Read more: Whisper Dictionary

 

Discovering the Port of Roman London

Gustav Milne

Gresham College History Lecture Series

27 September 2017

View Video: Discovering the Port of Roman...

Extended tour of duty: From the DUA to MOLA

Written by Ian Blair
31st March 2020

Today is a really bittersweet moment for me, my last day as a salaried archaeologist, after an extended tour of duty lasting forty two years, two months, and sixteen days. Hastened in part by a projected downturn of archaeological work in London, I elected to do the only honourable thing, and throw myself on my well-worn archaeological sword, by accepting voluntary redundancy. I’m not alone in this decision, as fifteen of my colleagues chose to make the same difficult choice.

That even now, I have no idea exactly who has departed ‘stage left’ with me, says much of the speed with which this process was hastily implemented, and it is a real tragedy that these talented people have now gone. Unfortunately, and more worrying, is that the real threat of future enforced ‘compulsory’ redundancies on London archaeologists down the line (though now on hold for obvious reasons) still remains, hanging over their collective heads like the Sword of Damocles.

Read more: Extended tour of duty

 

 Merton Priory - Station Road, SW19

MPY86
From Louise McDonagh

The entire N half of the priory church was revealed in 1987, and most of the N transept, Lady Chapel and choir was excavated. Some 160 burials were found within or close to the church.*

Read more: 1987-88 Merton Priory - DGLA


Trig Lane Archaeological Excavation (TL74) Summer of 1974
Department of Urban Archaeology (DUA)

A short film by Jamie Muir©

Read more: Trig Lane (TL74) Video

Trevor Brighams Forum and Huggin Hill Model

Forum and Huggin Hill Baths Models

Written by Trevor Brigham

Workshop and gallery slides of the Huggin Hill Baths and forum models in the MoL Roman gallery, variously taken by Kandor Modelmakers Ltd, Valhalla Ltd, and Jenny Hall.

Photos supplied by Trevor Brigham, who also did the design drawings for both models in 1995/6.

Read more: Trevor Brigham Forum Model

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Latest Articles

  • Speak-Up
  • Leaden Curse
  • Extended tour of duty
  • Paul Tyers Photo Album
  • John Maloney's paper for London Archaeologist 50 anniversary

Ian Blair

Ian's Insights, on sites:
an archaeological miscellany

Over 35 Insights so far

Website security

HH email address

Waterfront excavations Front Cover

London’s Waterfront 1100–1666
by John Schofield, Lyn Blackmore and Jacqueline Pearce with Tony Dyson.
Published 2018
543 pages (37.6MB)

Available for download now thanks to
The City of London Archaeological Trust (CoLAT)

PS. Check out the 'COLAT bookshelf' page for useful article downloads.

The Ken Dash Photo Diary
1975 - 1977

GPO75 group shotGOOGLE PHOTO ALBUM

Kevin Fludes
Party Photographs

Kevin Flude party photoGOOGLE PHOTO ALBUM

Brian Hobley - Chief Urban ArchaeologistBrian Hobley
Chief Urban Archaeologist
1973 - 1989

Sunday Times Magazine
Article 29th January 1989

Sunday Times MagazineGOOGLE PHOTO ALBUM

DiSCOVERIES
London 1970-1986

Discoveries booklet compiled by Hugh ChapmanGOOGLE PHOTO ALBUM

citizan logo

The Coastal and Intertidal Zone Archaeological Network (CITiZAN) has been set up in response to these dynamic threats to our island heritage. We are a community archaeology project working in the areas of England exposed at low tide but covered at high tide. We are actively promoting site recording and long-term monitoring programmes led by our active volunteers.

Click here to go to CITIZAN.org


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