Historic Properties
4.16.3 London
:In September 1997 the Central Archaeology Service conducted a watching brief at the Jewel Tower at Westminster Palace, during the excavation of a drainage trench associated with a new lavatory facility. The trench ran from within the Jewel Tower across to existing drainage in No 6 & 7 Old Palace Yard. The courtyard outside the Jewel Tower contained nineteenth-century extensions to eighteenth-century houses, which were demolished after World War II, but the most interesting feature recorded was a wall foundation running east west across the yard. These footings comprised limestone blocks of varying sizes set in mortar, and represent a wall approximately 2.5m thick. There is no evidence of wall scars on the Jewel Tower, which is only several metres away to the east, and the footings probably represent an earlier structure.
The area within No 6 & 7 Old Palace Yard only contained concrete associated with the installation of an air-conditioning system. Within the Jewel Tower itself, however, a series of eighteenth-, nineteenth-, and twentieth-century floors were revealed in the smaller eastern chamber, as well as a remnant mortar floor that was probably contemporary with the construction of the tower in 1365. The height of this floor suggests that this ground-floor room was reached by a short step down from the main chamber to the west, through the existing door. The discovery of the mortar floor and of the large wall footings resulted in a realignment of the pipe trench, and a change of angle within the pipe run, in order to avoid disturbance to these features. The results of this work have raised a number of questions relating to the early layout of the Palace of Westminster, as the large footings lie north of the existing moat, while the early boundary wall for the Palace is supposed to have lain where the moat now exists.
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In February and March 1998, the Central Archaeology Service conducted a watching brief on a number of service trenches excavated in the grounds of Kenwood House, an eighteenth-century villa at the northern end of Hampstead Heath. The work provided an opportunity to assess the survival of archaeological deposits in several areas of the estate, which has received almost no archaeological study to date. Of particular interest are the ancient boundary ditches, thought from documentary evidence to be of Saxon origin but so far uninvestigated. The trenches revealed that many features of historical and archaeological significance survived in good condition, especially near the house. Walls belonging to the enclosed courtyards and service wing, which lay to the north of the house until the 1790s, were located, together with the west wall of the eighteenth-century Kitchen Garden to the west of the house, and a number of eighteenth-century and later drains. Traces of the formal flower beds laid out c 1800 were also found at the eastern edge of the former Flower Garden. By correlating the findings with documentary evidence from historic plans, illustrations, and other records, it was possible to compile an accurate plan of the features located by the excavations. No useful information was retrieved about the ancient boundary ditch to the east of the present estate on this occasion. The exercise was valuable in revealing and documenting the high potential for future archaeological investigation at Kenwood when the opportunity arises.
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Two small excavation were commissioned in 1997-98 in the grounds of Chiswick House. Northamptonshire Archaeology excavated three trenches in the northern part of the proposed Camellia Garden at Chiswick in October 1997, and conducted a watching brief during cultivation. The objective was to confirm or deny the existence of a path bisecting the Camellia Garden, shown on a garden plan of c 1880. The path was successfully located and recorded. The excavation was the first (and smaller) part of a more extensive evaluation of the Camellia Garden, which is now taking place. Northamptonshire Archaeology also excavated two trenches for drainage runs associated with the construction of a temporary toilet in the works yard, which overlies the site of the seventeenth-century Chiswick House (to which the present house is attached). The trenches revealed two buried walls, which were recorded; the drainage runs were adjusted to minimise damage to these.