Introduction
As a continuation of my quest to discover the hidden bits London’s Roman City Wall (see Part 1; Part 2), I have targeted a number of other buildings located along the line of the eastern section of the Roman city wall.
After much Googling (other search engines are available), I have found the information available about these potential sites to be obscure and sometimes considerably out of date. However, not to be put off, I thought I’d use my lunch-hours gainfully and seek out these ancient remnants
Roman Wall House
This post refers to a section of Roman Wall located under the appropriately named “London Wall House” located at the meeting point of Nos.18-20 Jewry Street and No. 1 Crutched Friars in EC3, London.
By the way, the Crutched Friars which give their name to the street are in fact derived from the House of the Friars of the Holy Cross. It seems the Middle English word for “Cross” was “Crouche” from the Latin “Crux” which readily gives the form “Crutched”. Now getting back to the main point, opposite these Friars is London Wall House, No.1 Crutched Friars.
My usual method of entry was employed: asking nicely if they have a Roman Wall hiding in their basement, which in this case provoked immediate positive action from the very nice chap who answered the main door.
I mentioned to the chap that the information I had gathered said the wall was incorporated into the Directors’ dining room in the basement, and so I was somewhat surprised when he grabbed a set of keys and led me back out of the building and further along the street to the entrance of a former nightclub known as Club II AD (That’s 2 AD. See what they did there?).
He unlocked the glass doors and we headed down stairs to basement level into the eerie gloom of the deserted former nightclub. Light-switch duly located, I was escorted the length of the whole club and at the far north-east corner the wall was to be found behind one of the bars. The wall is separated from the bar a sturdy glass partition, incorporating a glass door to the left-hand side.
Note the diagonal alignment with flooring.
The wall is on a diagonal alignment to rest of the building, which would mean this section is related with that section under Emperor House mentioned in my earlier post, in order for the alignment of the two sites to make sense. [Edit] I later found that these two sections of the wall are indeed one in the same. With this site featuring the west (inner) facing side of the same section of wall as that in Emperor House which is the opposite side of the same section. [/Edit]
From what I have found out it was discovered in 1905 and described then as a 12m (40ft) length of inner facing wall, standing to a height of 2.5-3m (8-9ft) with the base 2.6m (8.5ft) below the present ground level. Above the usual triple levelling course of brick tiles were four courses of squared ragstone, a triple bonding-course, size courses of squared ragstone and a double bonding-course with the usual offsets.
(Image from Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England) – London Vol III)
The wall is set on concrete underpins, painted black which gives the impression of the wall floating above the floor. The original red sandstone base is not present as can be seen in the 1905 photo above and in the detail of the northern end of the wall shown below.
There was also an information panel next to the bar, but providing more general information on the London Wall rather than anything specific to the section on display.
So that’s it for now. I have still yet to get access to some wall sections under other buildings in this area and I hope to post the results when I finally do.
For more general background information on the city wall and Roman London please refer to the Museum of London’s web site on this topic. Better still, go make a personal visit to this often overlooked but truly excellent (and free) museum.
Other posts in this series
References
- English Heritage PastScape: Monument No. 408285
- Archaeology Data Service
- Museum of London: Site Record GM247
Update of post for late 2019
I have migrated this article from Blogger to WordPress. In the process I have fixed some typos, enhanced and re-hosted the photos, and have updated the post a little.
Since writing this post back in 2013, much has changed regarding this site. London Wall House shown in the photographs above, have now been demolished and is being redeveloped in conjunction with Emperor House, as featured in Part 2, as a new building also to be called Roman Wall House. The Roman wall and bastion 4a will be made a feature of in the new building which is to be a mix of offices and student accommodation, and will be accessible to the general public for the first time.
I also note the due to the reorganisation of the Museum of London, and the separation of their Archaeological Services (MoLAS) to the separate commercial entity of MOLA, all of their old links are now broken. I have provided a list of alternative references below which are working as of 2019.
Historic England: London Wall: remains of Roman wall and bastion (4a) at Crutched Friars
Detailed record of this Scheduled Monument.
MOLA: Archaeological consultancy on Vine Street: London’s Roman Wall
Article from MOLA on the redevelopment of this site.
An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in London, Volume 3, Roman London
Online version of this fascinating reference.
Brilliant, I am building a collection of detail about the London Wall, which includes an 1905 picture of the same wall at Roman Wall House – https://londonwiki.co.uk/LondonWallDigs/RomanWallHouse.shtml
Those are great archive photos. It reminds me that I actually have that source in Hard-Back, and I have used my own scans of the same photos when migrating this post recently.
from 1981 to 1990 I worked for Lloyd’s Register of Shipping, which was then based in Fenchurch Street. At some stage the Publications department I was working in was relocated to Emperor House, and the bastion was indeed on display. I believe that the charity commissioners had frowned upon the managers and directors in the organisation providing themselves with a free lunch, and so they said that lunches must be provided for all the staff. Thus a restaurant was opened in the basement of Emperor House, with the Bastion tastefully lit and visible while we were eating lunch. I am afraid to say that I did not take any photographs of the arrangement, but I would be surprised if Lloyd’s Register didn’t have some photographs tucked away in their archives which showed the restaurant as it was when I was there. It’s possible the staff magazine, which I used to edit, may have taken some picture too. I remember being told that before Emperor House was built, the Roman wall was built into a Warehouse as the back wall, and this was how it had survived so long.
Thank you for comment. As you may know that site is currently at the final stages of being redeveloped, and the Roman wall and bastion will feature as part of a new public space in the new building. Hopefully that development will be completed within the next 12 months or so.
In 1982 I joined a company called the International Commodities Clearing House Limited (later renamed the London Clearing House). Their head office was in Roman Wall House on Crutched Friars and thier computer room was under where you show the IIAD club. In the operations area of the underground
computer area was a glass panel where you could see the Roman wall.
I was told at the that time that if anyone turned up at the offices and asked to see the wall that they were obliged to allow to take them down there to see it.
The company moved to Aldgate House in the 1990s I believe. Whether they would have any old photos of the wall at that time or not (maybe old brochures) I don’t know, but you never know, it might be possible.
Hi Nicola. Thank you for your commnent on my post. Both Roman Wall House, and the adjacent Emperor House been demolished since I wrote that article. The replacement building was finished in 2023/4 and now showcases the Roman Wall in an excellent public exhibition space. It is well worth dropping in for a look if you are ever in that area! I did visit that site many times during the demolition and construction, and shortly after it finally open to see the newly cleaned and presented Roman wall, and will write an article on this some day!
Hi, yes I did see a piece on the new building online. I just thought that it would be good to add the background that it was possible for people to view the wall even back in the 1980s. Of course no one was advertising the fact as they didn’t want people disturbing the operations staff any more than necessary. I moved out of London in 2007 and haven’t been back since.