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London’s earliest timber structure found
during Belmarsh prison dig
12 August 2009
London's oldest timber structure has been unearthed by archaeologists from Archaeology SouthEast (part of the Institute of Archaeology at UCL). It was found during the excavation of a
prehistoric peat bog adjacent to Belmarsh Prison in Plumstead, Greenwich, in advance of the
construction of a new prison building. Radiocarbon dating has shown the structure to be nearly
6,000 years old and it predates Stonehenge by more than 500 years. Jacobs Engineering UK Ltd
acted as the managing consultants, on behalf of the Ministry of Justice, and the work was
facilitated by Interserve Project Services Ltd.
The structure consisted of a timber platform or trackway found at a depth of 4.7m (about the
height of a double decker bus) beneath two metres of peat adjacent to an ancient river channel
(image available). Previously, the oldest timber structure in Greater London was the timber
trackway in Silvertown, which has been dated to 3340-2910 BC, c. 700 years younger.
Wetlands adjacent to rivers such as the Thames were an important source of food for prehistoric
people, and timber trackways and platforms made it easier to cross the boggy terrain. The
structure discovered at Plumstead is an early example of people adapting the natural landscape to
meet human needs. The peat bogs which developed at Plumstead provided ideal conditions to
preserve organic materials, which in other environments would have rotted away. The peat not
only preserved wood, but also other plant matter - down to microscopic pollen grains - which can
inform us about the contemporary landscape.
English Heritage, the government’s advisor on the historic environment, provides planning
advice in respect of archaeology within Greater London and was involved in the discovery at the
Plumstead site.
Mark Stevenson, Archaeological Advisor at English Heritage said: "The discovery of the earliest
timber structure in London is incredibly important. The timber structure is slightly earlier in date
than the earliest trackways excavated in the Somerset Levels, including the famous ‘Sweet
Track’ to Glastonbury, which provide some of the earliest physical evidence for woodworking in
England.
“This large area of development has been the subject of extensive building recording of the old
Royal Arsenal (East) site as well as detailed work to map the buried ancient landscape."
Archaeology South-East Senior Archaeologist Diccon Hart, who directed the excavation,
commented: "The discovery of the earliest timber structure yet found in the London Basin is an
incredibly exciting find. It is testament to the hard work and determination of those who toiled
under very difficult conditions to unearth a rare and fascinating structure almost 6,000 years after
it was constructed."
Other notable finds from the archaeological excavation include an Early Bronze Age alder log
with unusually well-preserved tool marks made by a metal axe. This item has been laser scanned
at UCL’s Department of Civil, Environmental and Geometric Engineering and is currently
undergoing conservation treatment prior to its display in Greenwich Heritage Centre, Woolwich
(image available).
The study of the samples will continue for the next couple of years as the archaeological team
learns more about this intriguing structure and the environment in which it was built.
-EndsNotes for editors
Contact details:
For further information and images please contact Dave Weston in the UCL Press Office on +44
(0) 20 7679 7678 or d.weston@ucl.ac.uk
About UCL (University College London):
Founded in 1826, UCL was the first English university established after Oxford and Cambridge,
the first to admit students regardless of race, class, religion or gender, and the first to provide
systematic teaching of law, architecture and medicine. UCL is the seventh-ranked university in
the 2008 THES-QS World University Rankings, and the third-ranked UK university in the 2008
league table of the top 500 world universities produced by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
UCL alumni include Marie Stopes, Jonathan Dimbleby, Lord Woolf, Alexander Graham Bell,
and members of the band Coldplay. UCL currently has over 12,000 undergraduate and 8,000
postgraduate students. Its annual income is over £600 million. For further information see:
www.ucl.ac.uk
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