The excavation of an Elizabethan/Stuart waterfront site on the north bank of the River Thames at Victoria Wharf, Narrow Street, Limehouse, London E14

Abstract

The Museum of London Archaeology Service excavated the site of Victoria Wharf, Narrow Street, London E14 during 1996. Documentary and archaeological evidence suggested the foreshore between Narrow Street and the Thames had been reclaimed in the late 16th century, after which wharves were constructed, probably between 1584 and 1602.The excavation revealed a timber wharf, dated dendrochronologically to 1584–85, constructed from horizontal planks fixed to upright posts set in base plates. The posts were fixed to landward tie-backs with iron straps, a technique previously known from the early 17th century. A section of the revetment perpendicular to the river represented the east side of a small dock or access way from Narrow Street onto the foreshore. This was infilled by 1635 and replaced with a stair — White’s Stairs, later Kidney Stairs—leading onto the foreshore. Later repairs added earth-fast front braces to the waterfront.From c. 1629 to 1637 part of the site was owned by Captain William Bushell, a notable maritime figure frequently in trouble with maritime authorities. The truncated foundations and basement floors of Tudor riverside brick buildings were found. Map evidence indicates that by 1658 the whole of this stretch of waterfront had become built up.International links for the site were indicated by finds including coins from Portugal, Spain and Havana, German trading tokens, pottery from Persia, south-east Asia, the Rhineland, north Italy and Spanish oil jars. Material associated with the work of shipwrights was also recovered.The site was a microcosm of Tudor and Stuart Limehouse.