4 St James Square (including 7-9 Babmaes St), Westminster, London

Oxford Archaeology (formerly Oxford Archaeological Unit) carried out a programme of archaeological recording in advance and during the conversion of the Grade II & II* listed buildings at 4 St James’s Square and 7-9 Babmaes Street for use by the Naval and Military Club. The work included a limited desk-based archaeological assessment, building investigation, watching brief to the north of the building and archaeological recording of remains uncovered in the basement level of the building.

The building investigation involved targeting the areas of historic fabric which were to be affected by the conversion work and making a record prior to destruction. The site was then revisited after the demolition work to allow any revealed evidence to be recorded. As a result of the keyhole investigations the main sequence of the evolution of the building put forward in the Survey of London (Volume XXIX, 1960) was confirmed. No evidence was found for any surviving standing elements of the original 1670s building, which was destroyed by fire in 1725, however, possible reuse of materials was suggested. The foundations of a brick wall with associated floor surfaces presumably relating to this primary structure were observed during the basement watching brief. The street front and part of the return wing of the property date from the 1725-28 rebuild carried out by Edward Shepherd for the Duke of Kent. To this an additional service stair to the north of the building was added by Marchioness de Grey in 1790. Subsequently during the early 1830s Earl de Grey demolished and rebuilt a possible 1670s surviving building facing onto Babmaes Mews with the current block which projects into the enclosed inner courtyard area. At the rear of the plot are two service buildings combining kitchen and stables which may be contemporary with the 1725-28 rebuild of the main building, or possibly be earlier survivals of the 1725 fire.

A watching brief was carried out on an area directly to the north of 7-9 Babmaes Street between November 1997 and January 1998. The site was 45 m long, 5-10 m wide and up to 6.7 m deep. No significant archaeological deposits were identified during the watching brief.