Excavations at 25 Cannon Street, City of London – from the Middle Bronze Age to the Great Fire

2002

The 25 Cannon Street excavations produced rare evidence of Middle Bronze Age activity. Roman quarrying and timber buildings gave way to late 2nd-century AD masonry buildings. One building was occupied until the late 4th century, its ruins covered by ‘dark earth’. A Roman road lay just to the north of the site, beneath Watling Street. Cellared buildings had been constructed by the mid 11th century, and pre-dated Friday Street and the church of St Werburga, later St John the Evangelist. The church was founded between 1098 and 1108, and was rebuilt with a wider chancel in the 13th or 14th century. Medieval and later buildings, cellars and cesspits were associated with occupation up to the Great Fire of 1666. The church was not rebuilt after the fire, but the churchyard continued in use as a burial ground until the 19th century.

Archaeology Studies Series 5