London (England) -- Description and travel; London (England) -- History -- 1800-1950
In 1835 a curious discovery, the import of which was then unsuspected,
was made close to the Swan’s Nest, a public-house in Great Swan Alley,
Moorgate Street. A pit or well was laid open, in which was found a large
quantity of earthen vessels of various patterns. This well had been
carefully planked over with stout boards; the vases it contained were
placed on their sides, embedded in mud or sand, which had settled so
closely round them that a great number were broken in the attempt to
extricate them. A coin and some iron implements were also found in the
well, which was about three feet square, and boarded on each side with
narrow planks about two feet long. The object with which these vessels,
etc., had been deposited in this well was not at the time surmised, but
it was made clear by a subsequent discovery. When the National Safe
Deposit Company’s premises, already referred to, were built, a similar
wooden framework was discovered at a depth of about thirty feet below
the present level of the street. It was of oak, and about three feet
square, and the contents of the box were similar to those found at the
Swan’s Nest. Fortunately this find came under the observation of Mr.
John E. Price, F.S.A., and Honorary Secretary of the London and
Middlesex Archæological Society, who recognised the remains as those of
an _arca finalis_, a monument employed by the Roman surveyors to
indicate the situation of limits of public or private property,
answering to a landmark or boundary stone. Similar structures,
occasionally of stone or tiles, have been discovered in other parts of
England, as also on the Continent. It is therefore evident that the box
found higher up the stream was also such an area.
To return once more to Wallbrook. A bridge across it we have not yet
mentioned was Horseshoe Bridge, situate where the brook crossed Cloak
Lane, which was a famous shopping-place of the ladies of those early
days, fancy articles being mostly on sale there. It is, however, time
to leave the Wallbrook; let us part from it with such a picture on our
minds as will leave a vivid and pleasant impression. Remember that its
banks were favourite sites for villas, as is proved by all the evidences
of wealth and luxury of the ancient dwellers on the Wallbrook ravine and
adjoining streets, now buried fathoms deep underground, which have been
found on and near the banks of the river. ’A villa in beautiful grounds
on the Wallbrook to be let’—think of that!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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