117 Houndsditch, EC3, Archaeological Watching Brief

An archaeological investigation of 117 Houndsditch confirmed that well preserved Roman burials can survive beneath basement floors in this area, also other archaeological features. The sequence and distribution of Roman burials in this area has been used as evidence in dating of the Roman town wall to around AD 200. On the present site burials were sparse, and because all the associated datable pottery is earlier than the argued date of the Roman wall, it is possible they represent localised burying at a time when this area was relatively accessible from the Roman city. One feature seemed to confirm late medieval development of the Houndsditch frontage, before a dramatic rise in modern ground level whose date was not defined archaeologically.