Understanding the East London gravels: archaeological excavations on the Thames gravels of Newham, Barking and Dagenham 1963–99
The archaeological sites described on this web site were located in the London Boroughs north of the Thames and east of the river Lea that were historically part of the county of Essex (see map)
This is not an area that is well known for its archaeological sites. The modern landscape is essentially urban, interspersed with open land that includes the occasional working farm as well as the Thames Chase Forest.
It can be easy, therefore, to forget that there has been a long and fascinating history of human settlement in this area.
A series of important archaeological excavations were undertaken in the course of gravel extraction. The quarries exploited the presence here of river gravels, deposited by the Thames, which rise in a series of steps towards the A12 road.
The rescue excavations produced many finds and records but, despite the efforts of the original archaeological teams and donations of money and help from several gravel companies, it was not possible to raise sufficient funding for analysis and publication of the results. A new assessment of the importance of the findings has been made possible, thanks to the aggregates industry, through funding obtained from the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSF), administered by English Heritage (see Useful links). The ALSF-funded study of the East London gravels sites has involved a team of experts from the Museum of London Archaeology Service (MoLAS), Essex County Council Field Archaeology Unit and the University of York, as well as consultants and former staff of the Passmore Edwards Museum and Newham Museums Archaeology Service. The recent assessment work has included development of this website, writing of an accessible booklet scheduled for publication early in 2005, and the development of proposals for analysis of the archaeological landscape of the East London gravels as part of the three-year extension of the ALSF.
This website is still under development and new images will be added to these pages as they become available. Some parts of the text may also see revision as archaeological studies progress.