An archaeological history of East London landscapes
Contents
- The earliest people: the Palaeolithic (c.450,000 BC8,000 BC)
- Early hunter gatherers: Mesolithic and Early Neolithic (c 8,000 BC3,500 BC)
- Turning landscapes into places: the Late Neolithic (3500 BC2500 BC)
- Feasting and 'Beaker culture': the Early Bronze Age (c 2500 BC1500 BC)
- A landscape of farms and fields: Middle to Late Bronze Age (c 1500 BC 1000 BC)
- Farmsteads and 'ring forts': the Late Bronze Age (c 1000750 BC)
- From hillforts to kings: the Iron Age (c 750 BCAD 50)
- Annexation by Rome (c AD 50200)
- Agricultural intensification in Late Antiquity (c AD 200400)
- Early medieval (c AD 4001000)
- London as capital city: from Norman Conquest to Reformation (c AD 10001500)
- The growth of London: early modern (c AD 15002000)
The earliest people: the Palaeolithic (c 450,000 BC8,000 BC)
For most of this period Britain was not yet an island. The first hominids arrived here in warmer periods, as they followed game north. These people were not Homo sapiens but they used flint tools and operated in complex social groups.
Comparatively little Palaeolithic material is known from London and none of this belongs to the earliest phases of hominid activity.
At Woodford, however, roadworks connected with the building of the M11 revealed an in situ Palaeolithic site. Handaxes and flakes were recovered from near the surface of a gravel deposit.
Palaeolithic axes have also been found reused in later contexts at Moor Hall Farm. This is probably because these objects had been collected and treasured in later times.
Notwithstanding this evidence for the passing groups of hominid hunters, this was largely a landscape without people. For much of the Ice Age London remained inhospitable arctic tundra.
Early hunter gatherers: Mesolithic and Early Neolithic (c 8,000 BC3,500 BC)
Modern humans, Homo sapiens, arrived in north-west Europe some 40,000 years ago. But permanent settlement here did not take place until after the last main Ice Age around 11,000 BC. Remains of this period, the Upper Palaeolithic, are hard to find in Britain.
The first evidence for human activity in East London dates instead to the Early Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) period, around 8000 BC. This was when people started to move here in sufficient numbers to have left archaeological trace.
Mesolithic sites are characterised by a new range of flint implements, including microliths (small flints sometimes used to form composite tools), as well as other stone, bone and antler tools. Early Mesolithic implements were found on several of the sites described here (Warren Farm, Manor Farm, Great Arnold's Field and Uphall Camp.
)
These tools attest to the sporadic presence of hunter-gatherers who operated in the more wooded landscape that had replaced the open tundra. Pollen from Enfield Lock illustrates the spread of pine forests that were then replaced by mixed hazel/elm woodland. Later in the Mesolithic, oak and then lime trees dominated the woodland.
Wild cattle (aurochs), roe, red deer and boar were found in and around these woods and attracted early hunters. These people became island dwellers, since it was during the Mesolithic that rising sea levels cut Britain off from continental Europe.
Much of the land through which these hunters moved was subsequently taken over for farming. It is still not entirely clear when and how this happened. Some Late Mesolithic communities may have been farmers. Late Mesolithic flint tools and Early Neolithic (New Stone Age) tools and pottery have been found in the same layers at Brookway in Rainham. Colonists from continental Europe may have introduced some of these new techniques.
These agricultural communities had need of a different range of tools and goods. Neolithic farmers still relied on flint tools but pottery was also used. The London area appears to have been slow to adopt these new practices. The earliest evidence discovered for farming in the East London area dates to the middle of the fourth millennium BC.
Turning landscapes into places: the Late Neolithic (3500BC2500BC)
The scattered farming communities established in East London between 3500 and 3000 BC were probably engaged in pastoralism, supplemented by hunting and gathering. Pollen evidence suggests that the landscape consisted of a tapestry of clearings against a backdrop of woodland, with the river terraces preferred for settlement.
The advent of farming and the presence of settled communities contributed to increasingly complicated social arrangements. Surplus labour could be directed into the construction of monuments of earth and timber, as people celebrated ties to the lands that they occupied.
An impressive example is the causewayed enclosure at Orsett near the Biggleswade bypass. Substantial ditches pierced by a series of raised causeways encircled this near-circular camp. A ring ditch - a large ditch that probably surrounded an earth mound - was recorded at Great Arnold's Field, Rainham, before gravel quarrying in the 1960s. A nearby site, at Brookway, produced evidence of possible post-fast structures and hearths, and flint knapping debris. These two Early Neolithic sites, which may have been linked, overlooked the wide fertile plain of the Thames.
Sea levels rose later in the Neolithic, drowning the floodplain. Submerged woods have been found from Purfleet through Rainham to Dagenham. A late Neolithic wooden trackway found at Silvertown was laid in response to these changing conditions.
Feasting and 'Beaker culture': the Early Bronze Age (c 25001500BC)
Around 2,500 BC, at about the same time that Stonehenge was built, Beaker 'culture' was thriving in parts of what is now Germany. This 'culture' involved the use of large drinking vessels in feasting and burial ceremonies. The distinctive Beaker pottery was introduced to Britain, leading some to believe that the new social practices and goods marked the arrival of new people from continental Europe.
Burial rites also changed at this time and people were often buried in graves accompanied by Beakers and sometimes other grave goods. Cremation became the most widespread form of burial in the Early Bronze Age. Because of the growing importance attached to individual burials and to the use of high-status goods, archaeologists believe that the period saw the emergence of a stratified society. This was a world where powerful individuals dominated the agricultural communities that had developed during the earlier Neolithic.
Aspects of 'Beaker culture' were adopted at some of the sites discussed here. For instance at Great Arnold's Field several Beakers had been buried inside an earlier ring ditch.
A landscape of farms and fields: Middle to Late Bronze Age (c 1500 BC1000 BC)
The Bronze Age saw a continuation of many earlier trends in social and economic organisation. Those who occupied positions of power now made use of a range of fine bronze goods and weapons to display wealth and status.
Burial sites were important in the representation of power. Many of Britain's barrows were built in the Bronze Age, especially in the earlier part of the period. Two Middle Bronze Age ring ditches found at Fairlop Quarry formed part of an open ceremonial landscape. These were associated with pyre debris and cremation burials, some of which had been set within 'Deverel-Rimbury' style ceramic urns.
In many parts of Britain, the open pastoral landscapes became more evidently agricultural during the Bronze Age, as more complex field systems and enclosures were laid out. The main evidence for such changes comes in the forms of the boundary ditches.
River and sea levels continued to rise and more wooden trackways were built to link areas of settlement on the gravel terraces with estuarine marshes and meadows, where sheep or cattle were probably grazed. The marshes would also have been useful for fishing, fowling and salt production.
The river also became a focus for votive ritual and prestigious metal artefacts were sometimes cast into its waters. Many hoards of bronze items are also found in the area: these include fragments of objects such as knives, axes, adzes, hammers, swords, spears, harness fittings and occasionally jewellery. The availability of such disposable wealth may be related to increasing agricultural surpluses as farming intensified.
Farmsteads and 'ring forts': the Late Bronze Age (c 1000750 BC)
)
Archaeological evidence suggests that settlement density grew in the Late Bronze Age, which period also witnessed extensive woodland clearance. An organised agricultural landscape of mixed farming developed on the gravel terraces.
Farmsteads were often set within enclosures formed by a bank and ditch, and entered through a timber gate. Often known as 'ring forts', these are characteristic of eastern England. One or more round houses, with walls of timber posts, stood within such enclosures. A good example was found at South Hornchurch, where a central round house was provided with a large porch aligned on the enclosure entrance. Other settlements of this date, although not all enclosed by ditches, were found at Uphall Camp and Hunts Hill Farm.
At this time the range of pots used in the Middle Bronze Age was replaced by a wider variety of cooking and storage pots, together with fine jars, bowls and cups suitable for the service of food and drink. These changes reflect different social attitudes to eating and drinking.
From hillforts to kings: the Iron Age (c 750 BCAD 50)
The Iron Age was a period of major social, economic and technological change. The introduction of ironworking, which actually took place in the Late Bronze Age, was but one sign of this. Another was the way in which several of the circular enclosures, which had been prominent features in the Late Bronze Age landscape, were abandoned. The site at Warren Farm provides an example.
This was also the time of hillforts - viewed as the centres of political control amidst a warring tribal society. Some archaeologists now believe that the layout of streets and houses within hillforts suggests a more communally-based lifestyle with few distinctions in social status.
)
In the Middle Iron Age the landscape east of London was dominated by the major fortified settlement at Uphall Camp. This was built beside the River Roding where it flowed into the Thames at Ilford. A bank and ditch enclosed a large site.
Excavations have revealed roundhouses, rectangular structures and stock enclosures. Three 'potin' coins were found here, the earliest type of coinage to have been used in Britain and a sign of the site's importance. Given the lack of continental imports of Late Iron Age date it seems probable that the site had been abandoned by the first half of the 1st century BC. This was a period when many hillforts fell into disuse, perhaps associated with the growth of centralised kingdoms.
)
After 150 BC the population saw further growth at a time of climate deterioration. Agricultural intensification saw the establishment of new field boundaries and enclosed settlements, and more marginal lands were taken into cultivation. Some field systems seem also to have been abandoned, as at South Hornchurch, perhaps because of soil exhaustion as farming intensified. It also seems likely that the private ownership of property had become established as a means of establishing wealth and status.
After Caesar's expeditions to Britain in 5455 BC, south-east Britain came under the influence of Rome and Gaul. Coinage attests the formation of kingdoms with close ties to Rome. According to Caesar, some parts of the south-east were also settled by immigrants from Gaul. The area of modern East London fell within the control of a territory ruled by Cunobelin Shakespear's Cymbeline whose capital was established at Colchester. Imported amphorae show changing patterns of consumption, as some aspects of Roman culture were adopted by British society.
A series of triple ditched enclosures are characteristic of the very end of the Iron Age in this part of Britain. One of these was excavated at Moor Hall, Rainham.
Annexation by Rome (c AD 50200)
 found at the base of a well at Hunts Hill Farm. These show that some architectural innovations did arrive in the wake of the Roman conquest, but many rural sites continued to build houses of Iron Age style.'))
Britain was annexed by Rome in a campaign of conquest initiated by the emperor Claudius in AD 43. Colchester was swiftly captured and became the site of a veteran colony, whilst a new city was founded at London. These new towns were important centres for imperial administration. Roads aligned on the bridge at London were major features, and attracted roadside villages. The nearest of these to the area we are interested in here was at Old Ford, on the road from London to Colchester.
But otherwise the countryside was little changed. Earlier farmsteads remained in use, and the people here lived and farmed in traditional fashion. Occupation at sites such as Hunts Hill and Great Sunnings Farm continued as before, although at Moor Hall Farm field systems appeared to replace the triple-ditched enclosure. Where houses are found, as at Fairlop, these were built following pre-Roman practice.
It is often assumed that London must have promoted trade. But there is little evidence that this happened. Some imported goods did arrive onto these sites, but not in large quantities. Were it not for the historical sources and the brash new towns it would be difficult to guess from the archaeology of East London that Britain had become part of the Roman empire.
)
Burial practices do, however, show some Roman influences. Early Roman cremation cemeteries have been found at Uphall Camp and Fairlop Quarry.
There are few Romano-British villas around London, and most of these were located in Kent. It is anyone's guess whether the farms on the river terraces were owned locally by people who saw little or no need to engage in Romano-British patterns of social display, or whether absentee landlords were using rents and tithes from lands here to live in Roman style elsewhere.
Agricultural intensification in Late Antiquity (c AD 200400)
Whilst the Roman conquest appears to have had comparatively little impact on the lives of the people farming on the gravel terraces of East London, major changes took place here in the course of the 2nd century AD.
In the upper Thames valley some farmsteads of the Early or Middle Iron Age had been abandoned by the end of the 2nd century. At a period when one might expect demand to have been at a peak, there is evidence for a decline in the number and density of rural settlements. It is important to note, however, that the reduction in the number of settlements did not result in a contraction of the areas being farmed.
Similar things happened in the lower Thames. One example illustrates the point. At Fairlop Quarry a Late Iron Age and early Roman enclosure containing round houses, apparently a small farm, appears to have gone out of use sometime in the late 1st or early 2nd century. New fields were laid out here in a series of alterations between the 2nd and 4th centuries. There are also some indications that this later landscape may have been progressively more concerned with arable farming and cattle.
, whilst that on the right is of the emperor Constantine.'))
The changes in the landscape might reflect on the creation of larger estates, where investment in farm and stock improvement was intended to increase surplus production. These changes were not because of greater urban appetites. The evidence from London shows that the city was most densely populated in the earlier period, when it was the thronging hub of commercial and administrative activities that were later devolved to other cities and regions. By the end of the 2nd century the city was in contraction. Nor was this later Roman intensification the product of expanding villa estates: these remained rare around London. Perhaps this agricultural intensification met the needs of the increased demands of externally imposed taxes, rents and tithes.
Early medieval (c AD 4001000)
)
The Roman administration of Britain collapsed in the early 5th century in response to a range of political, economic and military pressures. The events of the subsequent 'dark ages' have prompted much scholarly debate. Unfortunately it can be very difficult to date archaeological sites of this period. The historical sources are also difficult, since the 5th century Anglo-Saxons were non-literate. Later chronicles, however, describe how most of eastern England was under Anglo-Saxon rule by the end of the 5th century. This finds confirmation in both the archaeological and place-name evidence. By the late 6th century the London region was a province of an East Saxon kingdom.
Early Saxon settlements tended to consist of dispersed, undefended villages and farmsteads. The occupation sites and cemeteries of this period were concentrated along the Thames and its tributaries. Only a few of these settlements have been excavated, although a site at Mucking was the subject of a major programme of excavations in the 1970s. The basis of the Saxon economy was agricultural but, aside from a few examples of field systems, evidence is sparse. The discovery of Saxon pottery dating to the 5th or 6th century within some of the field boundary ditches excavated at Manor Farm is a rare example of dated finds of this period being uncovered on the gravel extraction sites of East London. There are some signs that the landscape was farmed less intensely than previously. There may have been some forest regeneration on the borders of farmland and perhaps some return to pasture instead of arable farming.
Most Early Saxon settlements were established on land that had been farmed in the Roman period, and 5th century cemeteries were sometimes located near Roman period settlements. A few simple Early Saxon burials were recorded alongside a late Roman ditch at Hunts Hill Farm. A splendid group of 6th century pagan Saxon burials was also found during gravel digging at Gerpins Pit in the 1930s. The grave goods accompanying these burials included two glass drinking horns as well as spears and shield bosses.
Although London had been abandoned at the end of the Roman period, a new urban settlement developed upstream of the old walled city during the 7th century. This was in turn replaced by a new town, built within the Roman walls, at the time of King Alfred (late 9th century). This was when the English landscape of towns, villages and farms took form.
London as capital city: from Norman Conquest to Reformation (c AD 10001500)
Rural patterns of settlement continued to change in the early medieval period. Settlement shift was a common feature. This eventually resulted in the formation of villages such as Rainham, Wennington, and Aveley.
Population grew rapidly in Britain in the 12th13th centuries, at which time London also became the capital of England. London and the surrounding countryside witnessed considerable growth in this period. As a provider of grain and fuel, the countryside around London experienced large increases in agricultural production and woodland management. This was, however, followed by a decline in the 14th century, in part a consequence of the Black Death.
Most later medieval villages remained in continuous occupation until being subsumed by the growing metropolis. Inevitably, the gravel quarry sites reviewed here were excavated on areas that had been farmland and the archaeological excavations were not, therefore, able to investigate the settlements of this period. There have, therefore, been only limited opportunities for archaeological research.
Part of an enclosed Saxo-Norman farmstead was, however, recorded at Great Arnold's Field. At Hunt's Hill a timber 'hall-house' was also excavated.
The medieval pottery from these sites offers insight into the economy of the area. The fabrics are on the whole quite different in character to that from sites in central London. The sites discussed lie in an area that was peripheral to the main trade routes along the river and coast.
The growth of London: early modern (c AD 15002000)
The post-medieval history of the lower Thames estuary is dominated by the growth of London. This has had a range of economic and environmental impacts that have profoundly altered the landscape.
In 1550 London was already a large city with a population of about 120,000. But by 1801 it was home to over a million people. The city continued to grow throughout the 19th century, with row upon row of new Victorian houses built by an army of immigrant workmen.
The first impact of the growth of the city was its appetite for fuel and grain. Straw, wood, charcoal and coal were all used as fuel. Several manors around London specialised in fuel supply. But from 1550 imported coal became increasingly important, allowing woodland to be cleared for grazing, tillage or horticulture. Later archaeological deposits in London are characterised by higher densities of coal dust, and the consequent atmospheric pollution resulted in the great smogs for which London was so famous. London also was fed with grain from a wide radius. Even as early as 1570 corn was being imported from the south Midlands. This demand increased the emphasis on arable farming in those areas with suitable soil and links to the transport networks.
The sites closer to the city also specialised in dairying and perishable horticulture. This was a period of increasing specialisation and commercialisation of agriculture. The importance of market gardens to the rapidly expanding capital cannot be underestimated. Dagenham, Upminster and Rainham were important for market gardening until recently. Cattle and horses were kept around Upminster and Rainham until recent times. Agricultural production certainly continued to take place at many of the East London gravels sites, such as at Uphall, where a 16th century farm flourished until the 19th century. A 17th century windmill stood on the Iron Age earthworks and was visible until the 1960s.
More than anything else London needed people. Despite high levels of urban mortality, the towns offered employment and greater social mobility. And most Londoners came from Essex.
The growth of the city also contributed to the progressive industrialisation of the area. Archaeological evidence contributes additional detail to historical sources for such processes. The excavations described here found evidence for early modern brick kilns at Whitehall Wood and more modern industrial production at Uphall Camp.
The archaeology of this area also encompasses the World War II gun emplacements and other military installations at Warren Farm. And the farm at Great Sunnings was done up as a decoy Hornchurch Aerodrome, in an attempt to fool the Luftwaffe . These too reflect on the looming presence of London a short distance to the west.