Discovering Roman London after the Great Fire of 1666
It was Sir Christopher Wren who first drew the attention of the academic community to Roman remains when, during the rebuilding of St Mary-leBow after the Great Fire in 1671-3, he encountered ‘walls and windows also, and the pavement of a temple, or church of Roman workmanship’. Digging deeper on the site he also found evidence of a Roman road. There had long been a belief that a ‘Temple of Diana’ stood upon the site later occupied by St Paul’s Cathedral, but
Wren found no evidence of such a building when he commenced work on the rebuild and in fact ‘gave but little credit to the common story’. He even carried out test pits to establish how Ludgate Hill was formed and concluded that the Romans had built embankments to contain the River Thames. It could be argued that Wren was the first person to use both his knowledge of classical literature and careful archaeological observations to understand the history of the Roman City.
Stukeley’s map of Roman London
Bagford’s Roman moulded brick
From the late 17th century onwards more and more discoveries were made but most people were interested only in the most glamorous ones. However, a small number of amateur ‘antiquarians’ took an interest in all aspects of the Roman city, building up and privately exhibiting collections of their own. They included the apothecary, John Conyers, Dr John Woodward, and the shoemaker and book dealer John Bagford.
In 1724, in an essay published in the antiquarian Thomas Hearn’s book on John Leland (poet and antiquarian, known as ‘the father of English local history’), John Bagford provided one of the first summaries of the archaeology of Roman London including a detailed description and illustration of a Roman moulded brick found in Mark Lane some 28 feet beneath the pavement. The brick was at the time of writing
one of the curiosities to be found in the collections of the Royal Society in Fleet Street. It was men like Conyers, Woodward and Bagford, amateur collectors and recorders, who laid the foundations for the study of the archaeology of the city which ultimately led to the founding of the Guildhall Museum, but not before a whole new set amateur experts had taken on the baton in the 19th century.
Charles Roach Smith Biography Charles Roach Smith (1806–1890) has been called the father of London archaeology. At a time when the City of London was intent on modernising itself he was the loudest voice trying to preserve its historic past. In the early 19th century antiquarians were primarily interested in written sources whereas Roach Smith focused on what you can learn from the objects discovered
beneath the city streets. He co-founded the British Archaeological Association and amassed one of the largest private collections of Roman and Anglo-Saxon antiquities. Roach Smith was born in the Isle of Wight but moved to London to begin a career as a chemist. His first shop was at Founder’s Court in 1834. However, he was forced to move premises when the shop was bought by the Corporation of London and he established his new shop at 5 Liverpool
Street. He never married but lived with his sister, Maria. Living in London and seeing the excavations around him for building works led him to develop an interest in archaeology and the history of the City. Where possible he would visit building sites and collect artefacts himself, but the bureaucracy of the time often forbid him from doing so. In such cases he relied on the builders who were doing the work to bring him interesting finds, for which he paid small sums.
Drawings from Charles Roach Smith’s Illustrations of Roman London
Charles Roach Smith’s collection of antiquities at his home.
Artefacts During the 1830s and 1840s Charles Roach Smith amassed over 5000 Roman, Anglo Saxon and Medieval antiquities which he displayed for visitors in his home. He would host private tours for interested people, though not all of them seemed to grasp the importance of his work. In his book Reflections, Social and Archaeological he recalled how after seeing the Roman Tragedy Lamp from Roach Smith’s Collection as drawn in his Illustrations of Roman London (1859). The lamp is currently on display at the British Museum. (Image courtesy of the British Museum)
antiquities one woman offered him her own collection of stuffed birds! The Museum, as he referred to his collection, was visited daily by the ‘most eminent in science and art, as well as by general visitors to the metropolis; and the newspapers, from time to time, inserted it in their list of places worth seeing’ . Roach Smith wanted his collection
to be on public display and in 1855 offered it to both the Guildhall Museum and the British Museum. His original asking price was £3,000 but he accepted the British Museum’s counter offer of £2,000 assuring that the collection would stay together. His collection is still housed there today with many of the artefacts he ‘rescued’ still on display in the public galleries.
Controversy Charles Roach Smith frequently clashed with officials and his behaviour was particularly criticised by William Tite, the architect of the new Royal Exchange. In a speech given to the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1845 Tite said that by purchasing the antiquities Roach Smith had stopped the City from acquiring its own collection. He further claimed that Roach Smith had been stealing antiquities from the Royal Exchange site, was excessively violent and had threated to shoot the Clerk of Works at the site. In a reply in The Builder Roach Smith stated: ‘I then said that if his order could not protect me from personal violence, if I came again
I should feel it necessary (in selfdefence) to come armed, when, if the Gresham agent should think fit to put his threats into execution, by laying his hands or feet upon my person, he might run the risk of being shot.’ (The Builder p. 595 1845) Roach Smith challenged Tite to a debate which Tite ignored.
Archaeological discoveries from Tower Hill Plan showing where the Roman discoveries were made at the Royal Exchange site
Charles Roach Smith from the marble by Signor Fontana
Charles Roach Smith’s shop on Lothbury
The wall at Tower Hill from Charles Roach Smith’s Illustrations of Roman London (1859)
Legacy Charles Roach Smith wrote extensively for a variety of reputable publications, including The Gentleman’s Magazine and his own Collectanea Antiqua (published 1852-1880,) as well as publishing his own findings in monographs. His popularity became such that between 1850 and 1852 he was able to fund by subscription his own archaeological digs in Lympne and Pevensey. These were the first archaeological digs funded this way in the UK. His lasting legacy can be seen by millions of visitors to London every
year as he was chiefly responsible for the preservation of the Roman wall outside of Tower Hill station. Originally this had been planned for demolition to make way for a new church. However, he initiated a strong campaign in the press for its preservation and met with Sir R. H. Inglis, the chairman of the Building Society, persuading him to have the Society pull out of the project. The wall was saved.
Early Contributors to the Guildhall Museum In 1826 the Corporation of London resolved to form a museum collection devoted to the history of London, despite that fact they had no purpose built space in which to house the material. It would take 50 years for the City to match their original resolve and open
a new museum building. The collections had grown slowly in this period with finds often coming from ad hoc excavations by amateurs and from workmen on building sites. But lack of physical space meant that these additions to the collections were
Interior view of Guildhall Museum, with figures looking at an exhibition of pictures from the Gardner Collection 1872 by S. Maund
small. However, these finds were boosted by several collections sold to the Museum by local businessmen. The Guildhall Museum also employed some of these self-taught experts to help them classify and develop the collections.
John Walker Baily
(1809-73) was a successful businessman who collected Roman and Medieval antiques from the City of London; like Roach Smith his material consisted mainly of purchases made from building sites. He ran a firm of Ironmongers in Gracechurch Street and displayed his collection at his house.
John Edward Price
was a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and a leading expert of Roman London during the 1860s and 1870s. He published about excavations and Roman antiquities including the recently discovered site at the National Safe Deposit Company. However, unlike Charles Roach Smith he maintained very good relations with the Corporation and worked with them to deposit the antiquities in the Guildhall Museum in 1875. In 1880 he wrote On a bastion of London Wall, or, Excavations in Camomile
Illustrations from the manuscript catalogue of antiquities by John Walker Baily
The collection became so large that by 1869 it took over an entire wing of the house. He produced a beautiful manuscript catalogue for his collection with watercolour drawings of every object. After his death in 1881 the collection passed to the Guildhall Museum.
Street, Bishopsgate which outlined the archaeological finds and their significance from the excavations. In 1883 he was commissioned by the Corporation to compile The Descriptive Account of the Guildhall of the City of London: its history and associations. In 1888 he was hired as a temporary assistant to the Guildhall Museum. However, despite the initial good relations he was subsequently accused of selling objects from the museum to private collectors, and was discharged.
Illustration from John Edward Price’s On a bastion of London Wall, or, Excavations in Camomile Street, Bishopsgate
George Fabian Lawrence ‘Stony Jack’
Image of Stony Jack in his office courtesy of the Museum of London
George Fabian Lawrence (1862-1939) better known as ‘Stony Jack’, was a pawn broker who specialised in historical finds. His shop was the first destination for navvies with objects to sell as they knew he’d offer them a fair price for their finds. If it turned out to be
something he didn’t want, he would still give them enough for half a pint of beer. As he explained in a 1937 interview, ‘I taught them that every scrap of metal, pottery, glass or leather that has been lying under London may have a story to tell the archaeologist
and is worth saving.’ (Daily Herald, 1937). Unlike Charles Roach Smith he didn’t collect the antiquities for himself but passed them on to museums; without his efforts and reputation countless objects would have been lost. The most notable of
Lawrence was employed by the Guildhall Museum part time between 1901 and 1904. While not credited in the book itself he was responsible for revising the Guildhall Museum’s manuscript catalogue into its printed
form in 1903. The Library Committee gave him authority to make any changes he saw fit to the final proof. This catalogue was one of the first museum catalogues to include photographs of the objects.
these was the Cheapside Horde which the navvies brought to his shop in great clumps covered in mud. Lawrence cleaned them and, recognising their value, worked on securing the treasure for the London Museum.