London in the Roman World by Dominic Perring

Author:Dominic Perring [Perring, Dominic]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780191093425
Publisher: OxfordUP
Published: 2021-10-26T00:00:00+00:00

The scale of change

At One Poultry buildings continued to occupy plots flanking the main street into the later second century, although density reduced and the pace of building slowed. 34 Empty plots appeared throughout town, but contraction was most evident around the Cripplegate fort and west of the Walbrook, as well as along the line of Watling Street as it crossed Southwark towards London Bridge. It is likely that the fort itself was evacuated, and pottery later than c. ad 165 is conspicuously absent from sites within its interior. 35 The fort’s northern and western walls survived for reuse in the early third-century town wall, but its east wall was reduced to its foundations. 36 The south ditch was filled with late second-century rubbish, including a jar made in the Highgate Wood kilns that ceased production c. ad 165. 37 Some surrounding streets also became redundant. The suburban north road, laid out around the time the fort was built, was resurfaced at least once during the second century, coin dated after ad 154, but was soon in disrepair following flood damage. 38 Although the road was eventually restored, late second-century burials encroached onto its line and rubbish spread over its surface. Parts of the east-west road midway between the Cripplegate fort and Cheapside also appears to have fallen into disuse, with pits dug into its surface to quarry gravels. 39 A stretch of the road along the western bank of the Walbrook valley also became redundant at some point, with the latest floors in adjacent buildings dated c. ad 140, before it was built over in the late third or fourth century. 40 These redundancies are telling. Up until this point London’s road system had only seen expansion, but in the late second century some streets were no longer used by wheeled traffic.

Other aspects of the urban infrastructure failed. The mill at the foot of the Fleet was abandoned towards the end of the second century never to be replaced. 41 Some Walbrook revetments collapsed c. ad 150–70, reducing the energy reaching mills on this stretch of river, and the fact that wooden fittings were removed from the mill near the Bloomberg site suggests that it ceased to function. 42 These mills were nearly a century old, and may have become difficult to maintain, but their loss must have drastically reduced milling capacity. If less flour meant less bread, then appetites changed. It can also be noted that the later city used fewer timber-lined wells than before, despite the failure to fully restore water-lifting devices after the Hadrianic fire. 43 The management of some market gardens and stock enclosures on the town borders also changed. At Rangoon Street, in an area that remained peri-urban throughout the Roman period, Flavian ditch systems were routinely maintained into the second century but fell into disuse c. ad 140–160/70, to be sealed by dark earth containing late third- and fourth-century finds. 44

The stretch of Watling Street leading from Kent to Southwark may also have

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.