Arbor City Hotel

The Arbor City Hotel site is located to the east of Roman Londinium, in an area known to have been densely populated from the medieval period continuously to the present day.
The project involved constructing a basement in the car park area of the existing building, while the standing structure underwent refurbishment. The planned formation level for the basement was in excess of 7m below ground level, meaning all archaeological layers would be impacted.

PCA London was engaged early on in the development process, monitoring initial site investigation and geotechnical work and undertaking an evaluation to assess survival of archaeological features and deposits and inform the strategy for a full excavation.

The depth of excavation and constrained space made the site logistically challenging, and close cooperation with the principal contractor was needed to ensure the archaeology and construction works proceeded as efficiently as possible. Heavy bombing of the area had occurred during the Second World War necessitating specialist unexploded ordnance (UXO) contractors attending full time. Excavation continued area by area, generally progressing toward the north of the site.

Completed areas were handed back to the principal contractor to allow groundworks to be undertaken, preparing the site for piling. The final phase of excavation which covered the northwest corner of the basement area was concluded in August 2022. A final watching brief (monitoring and recording) was undertaken in November 2022 in the extreme northeast part of the site.

The excavation revealed a complex archaeological sequence, dating from the Roman period to the present day. Roman features included a clay lined oven dating to AD 270–400. Quarrying for sand and gravel began in the Roman period, was resumed in the later medieval period and continued throughout subsequent centuries before buildings began to be constructed in the 17th century. Although the extraction of raw materials was undoubtedly a by-product of excavating these pits, many had been equipped with timber linings that would have supported the vertical sides; research suggests that these were used in the tanning industry.

Finds recovered from the medieval and Tudor period pits demonstrated that high status buildings were present in the vicinity of the site. Glazed floor tiles may have derived from the buildings belonging to the religious compound around St. Mary’s church (now demolished), possibly discarded after a period of rebuilding. The presence of imported glazed pottery also suggested wealthy households, as did recovered fragments of stove tile.

Local commerce and industries were well represented in the finds assemblage recovered from the excavation. Butchery was a major concern; enormous quantities of animal bone were recovered particularly from the late medieval and Tudor features. Glass working waste and fragments of substantial crucibles used in glass production were present, as was glass slag. Fragments of ceramic sugar moulds were also present indicating that sugar refining was also being carried out in the area, possibly from as early as the 17th century. Fragments of bell moulds were also recovered. These can be related to bell production in the local area which can be traced back to the late medieval period and continued into the 21st century.

Public outreach during the excavations consisted of showcasing “the find of the week” on social media.