I have really enjoyed working in Burgess Park.  We have uncovered some interesting details about the history of the park and met some interesting local residents who kindly shared their research and memories of the area.  Some 400 local school children have helped explore the archaeology and we’ve trained 31 adults in the techniques and principles of archaeological excavation. 

We may have finished excavating but this is not the end of our work on the site.  The next stage is done back at the office and we need to pull together our research, photos, maps and finds, consult with specialists and write up the results.  These results will be published and available to anyone who is interested.  The records and finds from the site will be archived with the London Archaeological Archive and Research Centre (LAARC) in due course, and again these will accessible by appointment to anyone who would like to see them.  After all that the process starts again.  Where shall we excavate next summer…?

Thanks to all the staff and volunteers who helped run the excavation; thanks to everyone who took part; thanks to all the local people who shared their knowledge and memories; thanks to Southwark and Lambeth Archaeological Excavation Committee for their funding and finally thanks to Southwark Council for allowing us to excavate in Burgess Park.

Kate Sumnall, Community Archaeologist, Museum of London

Maps from 1746 show the area of the excavations was used for market gardening. Vegetables needs fertiliser, – so every night a great supply arrived from London in the form of human waste matter, politely known as ‘night soil’. Other debris was also thrown in to this mixture, including the sherds of Roman pottery which have been found. Other historical periods are represented by finds such as a medieval roof tile complete with peg hole and a 17^th century clay tobacco pipe with a small bowl. The size of the pipe bowl is the clue to the period in which it was produced – tobacco at this time was rare and very expensive.

Trench 1 revealed pottery which was decorated and of good quality and some fine cut glass-ware was found indicating a respectable residential area. As London expanded and became more prosperous, the fields of vegetables had evolved to become a desirable mid-Victorian residential area. Evidence of this can found in the house uncovered in trench 1. The streets around the site also reflect the popularity of Lord Nelson after the battle of Trafalgar e.g. Nile Street and the Lord Nelson pub on Trafalgar Avenue. The houses were three-storey with a sub-basement.

The nearby Surrey Canal with its easy access to the port of London ensured that, later, the growth of major industry would move to the area. At this point, the residents of the mid-Victorian houses such as that exposed in trench 1 moved away and the houses were occupied by the families of those who worked in the increasing number of factories, for example, the R.Whites lemonade factory. The house revealed in trench 2 relates to this period.

London was attacked by the world’s first ballistic missile, the V-2 rocket (in German Vergeltungswaffe 2 which means Vengeance weapon 2) in 1944. The devastation from the 13 tonne rocket, which impacted at over 3000 miles an hour without warning, was catastrophic. There was no warning because it travelled faster than the speed of sound. Survivors only heard the sonic boom after the blast. At 10am on St Valentine’s Day 1945 our site at Burgess Park was hit by a V2 bomb. The area had been targeted because of the industry located here and the canal which was used by German bombers as a landmark leading to the city of London.

Our dig has provided evidence of the evolution of the area now occupied by Burgess Park which was created from the bomb site. The dig has shown that at the time the houses were destroyed by the bomb, both the mid- and late-Victorian houses, as represented by the archaeological remains in trenches 1 and 2, were occupied by people working in the local factories.

 Today Burgess Park is a green and peaceful park enjoyed by the local community who now have a window to the past through the findings from this dig. It was very enjoyable to meet local residents who came down to look at the dig and tell us their stories of the past including the photographs they brought with them. A whole new generation of the local community was also represented by the school children who came to help, some of whom want to become archaeologists.

Sylvia and Jo

We began the day doing section drawings of trench two. This involved drawing the stratigraphic layers of a 2.5 metre section, and then the difficult task of creating a Harris Matrix of the section. This went well until it began to rain! Later in the day, we learned about environmental sampling, and how it can reveal even the tiniest of archaeological clues about diet and status. We then carried on digging in trench one, with an aim to reveal the boundaries of the construction cut and the walls of a Victorian coal basement. This continued until lunch time, at which point we travelled to the London Archaeological Archive and Research Centre (LAARC) which involved eating our lunch on the bus! We were given a very in-depth tour of the LAARC, viewing archaeological remains ranging from medieval human hair to Roman footwear. Afterwards, we viewed the Museum’s incredibly large and amazing Ceramics and Glass collection, including Samian ware and large marble busts.  We then headed back into the archive where we viewed the rather outdated packaging materials used to store finds in the 1970s, and the questionable labelling of some of these finds. We finished the day repackaging finds in order to create a more up-to date and effective archive.

Wendy and Russell

During the dig we stumbled across some Roman pottery, an unusual and interesting find for this dig. Later on we found the bottom of a teacup, slowly followed by a side of it.

After the morning’s dig we proceeded with a spot of levelling, made interesting with a competition of accuracy (and of course Tom’s amazing drawing skills). We learnt the importance of levelling, as it helps form a 3D image of the site using GPS for surveying, and also for locating different phases of archaeology.

We ended the day with a talk on pottery from pottery specialist Roy Stephenson (Head of the Museum’s Department of Archaeological Collections and Archive). During this talk we learnt of the importance of pottery with regards to dating. We learnt how dates would be identified through pottery fabric, formation and decoration. After this we finished the day with a little more digging!! The highlight of the day was definitely the finds we excavated from the trench.

Christie, Jasmine, Mathilde and Nathaniel

After the introduction we separated into two groups to continue digging in the existing trenches that had been excavated prior to us arriving. Our task was to continue excavating and documenting finds, these included objects such as fragments of pottery, clay pipes and various pieces of metal and china. Another task which we all conducted was to plan the excavated area onto permatrace paper to show the layout of the sites.  

During the course of the day we were lucky enough to meet a local resident, who grew up in the area, called Elvera “Babs” Lawrence. She enjoyed telling us tales of life growing up with her family during war time and the post-war era. She brought along with her a photograph of her grandfather, Alexander Joseph Douraf, and his shop on the corner of Trafalgar Avenue.

It was enjoyable to talk to the local residents in the area who were taking an interest in the project. This added to an exciting and educational first day for us at the dig.  

Katherine & James

We had a whistle-stop tour of the archive where thousands of finds are stored in labelled bags, which are packed into carefully labelled boxes and stored on metal roller shelf units. In the metals store, metal finds are mostly stored in plastic containers with packing and silica gel to prevent dampness. Many of the metal finds recovered from archaeological sites are in a poor state, and so they are x-rayed to show up the features unseen by the human eye. Some metal finds are also treated by archaeological conservators.  All the storage areas in the LAARC are temperature and humidity controlled environments in order to protect the finds and records.

After our tour of the archive, we received an explanation of how artefacts are cleaned, and then we had the chance to work hands-on with Roman ceramics, repacking them to the LAARC’s high quality standard.  Finds repacking is being undertaken at the LAARC as part of the Volunteer Inclusion Programme, and also by the LAARC’s long-term volunteers.

Doug

Note: this is the last blog from the first week of the training dig – more blogs will follow for the second week, when a new group of students starts digging!

After lunch one of our supervisors, Jamie, gave us a talk on environmental archaeology, where we had the opportunity to look at some bones and seeds found through sampling on various archaeological sites.

We then were taught the importance of levelling, and were given a demonstration of the equipment used (dumpy level and levelling staff).  We split into smaller groups and were shown how to use the equipment under instruction from Tom, another of our supervisors.

Unfortunately the weather wasn’t on our side during the afternoon, but this did not diminish our enthusiasm.

By Keara and Sam

“Trench 2 has been cleared to a fairly level surface making it easier to identify the different areas of soil and debris. Following on from a talk on planning, we divided the trench into sections and split into groups to have a stab at plotting by grid these different areas.

In Trench 1 we have had a first taste of using a mattock, or pick axe, to break up large lumps of debris (mainly bricks)…

…We found several metal curves which we guessed could have been drawer handles and parts of a chimney pot.

Also today, Roy Stephenson, Head of the Department of Archaeological Collections and Archive at the Museum of London, came to speak to us about pottery and ways of dating finds.

He was able to identify, from our finds, pottery from Roman and Tudor times and Midlands Purpleware, Tudor Greenware and a small piece of black basalt ware made by Wedgewood.

This is a five day course for adults to learn the basics techniques of field archaeology in an urban environment.

We are continuing on the site following on from our community excavation work with schools and other groups.

Two of our new recruits, Becky and Katie,  took time out from excavating to share their initial thoughts and discoveries:

” Today is our first ever day as trainee archaeologists. About 14 of us are here from different backgrounds – old and young, supple and not so supple!  we are excavating footprints of Victorian terraced houses, many of which were bombed irreparably during the war and subsequently flattened and cleared before becoming a park.

First off we learnt trowelling to clear debris in order to reveal soil/brick features, discovering small finds as we go.

It is thrilling  to identify an intricate design on a piece of pottery, tile or clay pipe, but less attractive items must also be collected such as random metal pieces and glass.

There is an enormous variety of material…

…brick, plaster from architectural features, coal, slate, flint (all discarded unless unusual) and then clay pipes, pottery , glass etc…oh, and losts of dust!

Will be learning this afternoon how to record the finds on context sheets and seeing what everyone elsehas found and what we can learn.”

Sadly, I was only able to join the dig for 2 hours on Saturday morning, but it was a fun (if very hot and dusty) two hours. I arrived shortly after 9am, an hour before the Camden Young Archaeologists members; and Francis Grew and Kate put me right to work in a back corner of Trench 2. I am the person on the far left of one of the photos in the blog for Day 12 at Burgess Park below, which shows us all working in a neat little square.

There’s nothing quite as fun as revealing what once was a house, even if most of it is a post-bomb site pile of rubble (although I understand that the bomb didn’t actually hit the house outright) and I was very pleased to excavate a section of ceramic pipe, a Bakelite light switch with some wire still attached and a bit of glazed tile, along with a bit of what I thought might be fused glass from the heat of the explosion (but that is an un-educated guess!).  I left the glass in situ with the pipe, although perhaps the enthusiastic young archaeologist after me may have added them to a finds tray later on!

It was really fun to be on the field side of things (in contrast to the field notes side of things that records managers/archivists like me are used to) for a change and big thanks are due to the archaeology team who agreed I could come along.

Sarah Demb, Museum of London

Everyone feels that the dig is reaching a critical phase. Whereas the front wall and coal cellar of the house on Trafalgar Avenue are clear to see, the back half of the site stubbornly refuses to reveal its secrets. Was the bomb damage much greater here than previously believed? Was the building totally destroyed, right down to its foundations? For the moment at least, we are just trowelling through layers of rubble.

With temperatures in the 30s, Saturday was a day for finds’ washing. Neither the Harrow diggers nor the Camden Young Archaeologists, who worked on site in the morning, minded swapping their trowels for a washing-up bowl of muddy water. And all the time we continue to find evidence for what the house looked like before it was destroyed by that V2 rocket. A fine red marble moulding, perhaps from a fireplace, came to light today. And we know that the cornice, the ceiling and perhaps the door frames were finished with highly decorated plasterwork in ‘Wedgwood’ blue.

Francis Grew, London Archaeological Archive and Research Centre Manager

As per usual, we started with an introduction to the area, looking at old maps and comparing them to the surviving built environment around us. Then it was into the trench to carefully scrap away at the layers of earth that hold Burgess Park’s history within. We find that 30 minutes in the trench is just about right before people start to get too hot, so we swap them over to the finds washing which takes place under the cool shade of the horse chestnut tree.

Volunteers play a huge part in the running of the Museum, especially within the Museum’s Department of Archaeological Collections and Archive. Over the two weeks of this dig 15 people have volunteered their time to help out with the supervision of the schoolchildren, both within the trench and at the finds washing tables. Our volunteers have included current students of archaeology, current Museum volunteers, work experience students and unemployed people looking for some extra skills to add to their CVs. We’ve also had volunteers from a range of backgrounds join us including France, Spain & Japan, each sharing knowledge of archaeological practices from their home country and picking up tips from our methods of community engagement.

 Many thanks to all the volunteers who have played a big part in this year’s community dig.

Adam Corsini, Museum of London

Our Walworth students made excellent progress on excavating and processing finds from No. 84 Trafalgar Avenue. As we delved deeper into the trench we started to unearth more complete and substantial remains, especially building material of the original properties. This included huge pieces of walling with original plaster still attached and whole floor tiles which were cemented together.

An interesting find was the base of a ceramic vessel with the mark ‘Alfred B. Pearce and Company – 39 Ludgate Hill, London’. Back at the Museum of London I was able to discover a porcelain cup with the same mark in our Ceramic and Glass collection! This local company was active from the end of the 19th century and supplied a wide variety of ceramic and porcelain tableware.

Excitement was also happening directly opposite us where a new trench was opened up by a very large trowel known as a JCB(!), supervised by archaeologists Sadie and Bruce from Musuem of London Archaeology.

An assortment of finds started to appear including a bicycle pump, pair of pliers, button, bead, slate pencil and fountain pen – all very personal and practical objects. Of especial note were two connecting fragments of a ceramic vessel baring the Margate coat of arms and motto: Porta Maris Portus Salutis. Unlike our local piece of pottery supplied from Ludgate Hill, this little cup may have travelled all the way from Margate, along the old Dover Road (now the A2) which leads all the way to the Old Kent Road.

With two more days to go, it’s a rush to see if we can find any more meaningful artefacts and archaeology. On Monday the first week of our training excavation commences and a number of us here at the Museum of London will hang up our trowels until next year’s community dig…

Glynn Davis, LAARC, Museum of London

See our Flickr photostream for more photos from Day 10 at Burgess Park

The digging is being supervised by Tom Hoyle, who works for Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA). This isn’t his first experience of community archaeology. Last year he worked on the Big Dig at the Museum of London Docklands. This was an indoor activity where families could learn how to dig in a replica excavation. The Big Dig will be running again on 24 and 25 July as part of the Festival of British Archaeology activities at the Museum of London and places on it can be booked on the day.

Tom is really enjoying the community dig at Burgess Park. He has worked at MOLA for three years and before that at Leicester where he found a Roman lead curse – the most exciting thing that he has ever found. Maybe Burgess Park will turn up something to rival this! Tom says he enjoys meeting the schools and helping them to learn about archaeology. As he says: ‘Every day brings a new challenge!’

Today also saw the marking out of the new trench which we will be opening up tomorrow. This trench will form part of the Museum of London’s training excavation which starts on Monday and runs for two weeks. We are excavating a trench facing onto Pepler Road, which should allow us to see what the houses were like on that road. We know that they are later in date than those on Trafalgar Avenue, so we want to see how they differ in terms of construction and the artefacts recovered.

In the picture above top, you can see archaeologist Ian Blair marking out the new trench. In the picture above, is Pepler Road, once a busy road with houses full of families living there. Today it is a road to no-where, as only one end of it survives, off Waite Street, before it becomes a meandering path through the park.

Jackie Keily, Museum of London

See our Flickr photostream for more photos from Day 9 at Burgess Park

At 10am on Valentine’s Day in 1945 a V2 rocket hit our area of Burgess Park.  Reports state that it fell in the gardens between Waite Street and Pepler Road.  18 people were killed, 49 were injured & 25 houses were damaged.  The house we are excavating was damaged beyond repair.  At 10am the majority of people were at work or school, 193 people lived in the vicinity of the bomb site.  Had the bomb landed in the evening the casualties could have been much higher.   

The full name of the V2 rocket is Vergeltungswaffe 2 (Reprisal weapon 2).  The rocket that landed at Waite Street was fired from German occupied Holland.  A V2 rocket would fire 50miles up into the air before plummeting to earth at such speed that the impact felt like an earthquake.  There was no warning and so the people who died were not in shelters rather they were visiting neighbours or at home, going about their everyday business.

Here is a list of those that died,
Thomas Richard Aplin (53) of Shakespeare Road, Lambeth at No. 112
James Wladen (81) and Sarah Ann (78) Brown of No. 80
Frederick Hastings (72) and Sarah Ann (69) Burgess of No. 78
Eleanor Dean (51), also Home Guard Sidney George Robert Easton (60) and Grace Mary Easton (58) W.V.W. of No 82 at No 112
Beatrice Violet (52) and Jean (12) Duncan of No. 72
Jack Horsman (52) of No. 76 At No. 82
Emma Alice Maggs (58) of No. 80
Charlotte Elizabeth Manley (74) of No 74
Florence Patient (47) of No 84
Beatrice Kate Sansom (70) of No 78 at No 112
Ellen Ward (69) of No 74 at No 112 (in garage)
Katherine Elizabeth Weightman (54) of 132 Cator Street at No 112 (in garage)

Sunday 18th Feb
Annie Harriett Purser (46) of 9 Limerick House, Sumner Road at St Giles’ Hospital

[Taken from FlyingBombsandRockets]

Pupils form a circle showing how big the crater was after the V2 hit. People who lived locally later said that they used to play in the crater as children.  They reported that the crater measured 40ft across and 10ft deep and there was an omnipresent smell of gas escaping from the severed pipes.

Charlesworth, T. 2000. The Story of Burgess Park. Groundwork, Southwark, London. Thanks also to David Benson, local resident.

Kate Sumnall, Museum of London

Moving into the second week and it was time for two Museum of London projects to meet as volunteers from the Museum’s London Archaeological Archive and Research Centre (LAARC) came along to dig and wash finds. Usually today’s participants pack objects at the LAARC as part of the Volunteer Inclusion Programme (LAARC VIP), but today they found themselves exposing more of the foundations to the coal cellar and removing another layer of material from the garden area. One lucky volunteer added to the number of coins from the site as a George VI coin dating from 1938 cropped up.

The trench is looking quite different to how it looked this time last week. We now have a nice clear line of bricks running through the middle of the trench, defining the different areas of No. 84 Trafalgar Ave. Some surfaces have been discovered and brushed clean and you can really get the sense that this was once a house with people living in it.

The surrounding area is also revealing itself through the finds that are being discovered, with a lot of material seemingly relating to the public house that stood nearby.

More school groups will be coming to the dig this week and the rest of the LAARC VIP Volunteers will be joining us on Friday.

Adam Corsini, LAARC, Museum of London

See our Flickr photostream for more photos from Day 7 at Burgess Park

Today the Rotherhithe branch of the Young Archaeologists’ Club visited in the morning, and the Central London branch visited in the afternoon. All the members were very interested in the local history, and of course the digging and cleaning activities! More evidence of The Victory, a pub on the corner of Trafalgar Avenue and Waite Street emerged from the trench including pottery, glass bottles and an interesting soda water siphon.

Due to the lack of weekday rush hour traffic I arrived earlier than usual which allowed me some time to familiarise myself with the park and buildings along Old Kent Road before the first group arrived. Having passed the unassuming art gallery on the corner of Old Kent Road and Albany Road every day this week it was only upon closer inspection that I noticed a blue plaque tucked away in a disused doorway. This blue plaque had been voted for by the local residents and installed by Southwark council.

After hearing visitors’ stories of how the area has changed in the last fifty years I decided to conduct some research into this building.

The building used to be called the Thomas A Beckett public house and above the pub was a gymnasium that was used by Sugar Ray Leonard, Joe Frazier and Mohammed Ali amongst others when visiting London, but most famously by Henry Cooper, the British, European and Commonwealth boxing champion from 1954 – 68. The blue plaque commemorates Henry Cooper.

Further research about the building revealed that in medieval London the Archbishop of Canterbury’s authority ended at a stream and pond on the junction with Shornecliff Road called St Thomas–a-Waterings. The area was used for executions. The pub was originally named after this area.

The martyr Thomas  A Beckett (born 1118 – died 29 December 1170), gave a sermon at the Augustinian St Mary’s Priory in Southwark on 23 December 1170 which was seen as his last public act of defiance before his assassination. A pilgrimage developed following his death between Southwark and his shrine at Canterbury. St Thomas-a-Waterings became a resting place on this pilgrimage route and is referred to in Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales.

An incident in 1888 caused public alarm when ‘a shiny black bag’ was left in the building containing “a very sharp dagger, a clasp knife, two pairs of very long and very curious looking scissors and two preservers”.  At the time the Whitechapel murders were ongoing and unsolved and the discovery of the bag led to the arrest of a suspect however it was not Jack the Ripper. The murders remain unsolved to this day.

The last notable historical connection I discovered was that after the gym above the pub closed, the rooms were used by David Bowie in the early 1970s as an audition and practice area for his band which later released the album Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars. Please have a look at the building next time you pass it, and if you have any information about the buildings on Trafalgar Avenue or the surrounding streets please come to the excavation and tell us your memories

The first week has been a great success and all the different groups have had a hands-on experience of archaeology. I hope that next week will be as successful and that the sunshine continues.

Dan Nesbitt, Museum of London

See our Flickr photostream for more photos from Day 6 at Burgess Park

As well as digging holes in the ground at Burgess Park, we’re also digging through the Census returns for the houses we’re finding – and the current work is on what used to be 84 Trafalgar Road. Since the records are not published for 100 years, we can only see the censuses up to 1911, so can find out who lived in the houses when they were new, but not when the bomb fell. Here’s an overview of what we’ve discovered so far.

1871 – The Davis family, all born locally, lived at No 84, a husband and wife, 5 sons (aged 13-25), 1 daughter (aged 11) and a niece (aged 8). Mr Davis was a cashier for a firm of solicitors, 2 of his sons were clerks and another tailor. The younger children were at school.

1881 – Miss Sarah Wild was head of the house, living on independent means with 2 nieces. All 3 were born in Oldham, Lancashire, and on the day of the census, 2 other ladies from Oldham were staying with them.

1891 – No 84 is now split into two households. Albert Worsley, a goldsmith, originally from Norwich, his wife and 5 children (a son (11) and 5 daughters aged 10, 9, 7, 5 and 1) lived in the larger part of the house. But 3 rooms were rented separately by Thomas and Florence Smith.

1901 – Just one family living here again. Head of the household is Alfred Baker, who 10 years earlier lived next door at No 82 with his mother and sisters. Now he is married with a daughter, Myra, aged 9, and the family has a servant living in, so must have been quite well off. He worked from home as a Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages.

1911 – The house was still the office for recording Births, Marriages and Deaths, but the Registrar is now Mr Followes. His wife is dead, and his eldest daughter Elsie (19) works packaging medicines. His other 4 children were still at school. They have a servant who comes in by day, and they occupy 6 rooms in the house. The other 3 rooms are let by Margaret Edsall, a widow of 35 with an 11-year-old son and a daughter of 8. Mrs Edsall looks after an invalid at home, perhaps one of her children.

So an interesting range of people have lived at No 84 – we’ll keep you posted if we find out any more about any of them.

You can search the census for your own ancestors at Ancestry.co.uk

Roz Sherris, Museum of London

The weather forecast was predicting a chance of rain or even thunderstorms for today, but thankfully this did not happen. It was in fact the polar opposite, another glorious summer’s day at the corner of Waite Street and Trafalgar Avenue. Two groups of students studying English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) based at Southwark College joined us today, and from the very beginning of the sessions they were fascinated to hear about the changes in the local area and landscape over the last 250 years. The earliest maps show ‘Kent Street’ (present day Old Kent Road) dotted with large private houses surrounded by open fields whilst later maps record the rapid development of the area as a result of construction of the Surrey Canal (1801-11), the many local productive factories and modern depictions of the park after the damage from World War Two.    

Excavations into No. 84 Trafalgar Avenue continued today; the dividing wall with the neighbouring property was exposed and the basement coal cellar at the front of the house was very enthusiastically excavated and exposed. The students had never taken part in any type of archaeological excavation before, but instinctively understood the value of the project and how the conclusions drawn can lead to a fuller picture of local, and therefore London’s, history. To quote one of the group “I really enjoyed everything because it is the first time I have done this”.

The project also means a great deal to the local community, having spoken to many of them personally over the last few days. Many more slates, bricks and tiles were found as well as fragments of plates, cups and iron nails. We are able to gain an understanding of the everyday objects used in the house during the 19^th and 20^th centuries. Every day more objects from the house are revealed, along with the structure of the house. To my mind, the most mysterious and interesting object was found during the morning session and it will need more identification to confirm its use. My first instinct is that it is a letter key from a typewriter probably used inside the house.

The finds washing provided some much sought after shade from the midday sun in the exposed trench, and even people using the park were torn between resting in the shade or helping wash the finds! Finds washing is important for later identification and analysis of all the artefacts, especially the bricks, tiles and pottery.

I hope that the great weather lasts until the end of next week.

Dan Nesbitt, Museum of London

See our Flickr photostream for more photos from Day 5 at Burgess Park

The star finds for today were two more coins: both found by pupils during the morning session and both dating to the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). The first coin is a halfpenny and dates to 1882 and the second is a farthing dating to 1874 – this is the earliest coin that we have found so far from the excavation!

The excavation is revealing more of the floor surfaces from the sub basement of no. 84 Trafalgar Avenue. The main objects being found are bricks from the houses and slates from the roofs. However, a number of fragments survive that give us a glimpse of what the interior of the houses would have looked like: pieces of moulded and painted plaster, fragments of tiles from the fire surround decorated with brightly coloured flowers and foliage, and fragments of white and pink marble probably from the fireplaces.

It is fascinating to see more of our knowledge of the house and its interior being unearthed every day, but we couldn’t do it without the help of all those who have come and worked on the site from neighbouring schools.

So I would like to finish today’s blog by sharing some artwork of the dig created by some of the pupils who came to the site this morning. Thank you!

Jackie Keily, Museum of London

See our Flickr photostream for more photos from day 4 at Burgess Park

Before 14^th Feb 1945 it was a thriving community then the area was devastated by a V2 missile, all of this has receded from common recall as the years have passed.  Now the stories are coming out the for delectation of the local people. Children from local primary and secondary schools have learnt about events on their doorsteps that have chimed with what they have been told at school about the Second World War, the Victorians and the Romans, they have enjoyed the thrill of trowelling among the buried demolished remains of buildings that only exist on old maps.  Perhaps of the 500 – 600 children that will do this activity, there will be a spark lit in a few about the strength of the past, and they will want to pursue an interest or even a career in archaeology or history.  Possibly more importantly, in common with many adult visitors, they will leave knowing a little more about their historic environment which in turn leads to a better appreciation of, and pride in, their place.

Roy Stephenson

Head of the Department of Archaeological Collections and Archive, Museum of London

The children worked like true archaeologists and found some really interesting objects, including a complete beer bottle with the remains of a painted label on it, which may date to the 1940s (see photo) and oyster shells which were probably part of someone’s dinner a long time ago.

We also uncovered part of what could have been the garden path of the house (see photo, left) and a drain pipe which seems to lie in situ (see photo right). Well done to the girls for their diligent digging which helped us to try and find out how long the pipe was!

Meriel Jeater, Museum of London

See our Flickr photostream for more photos from day 3 at Burgess Park

Despite waking up and seeing the rain, day 2 at this year’s public archaeology dig ended up being another scorcher like yesterday. It was local school, Coburg Primary, that joined us in the trench today, with around 50 eager children ready to put on their gloves and pick up their trowels.

And what an amazing start as within minutes of digging, one lad discovered a fantastic find. “I’ve got a coin!” he cried, and indeed he had, but not just any old coin. This one was pretty special as it was a German 10 Pfennig coin, dating to 1911. 

What’s a German coin doing in Burgess Park? Well, that’s one thing archaeology can’t tell us. Perhaps a solider brought it back from Germany during WWI? Whatever the story, this coin follows on from yesterday’s 1916 British Penny. So that’s German coins: 1. English coins: 1. What will the final “score” of coins be from this site?

The finds being washed produced some fancy things too as some impressive ceramic wall tiles, tobacco pipes and plate and bowl fragments were scrubbed clean by our helpers. Other interesting objects included a heavily corroded wine bottle opener complete with a clamp, and a bottle stopper.

Back in the trench, the children helped uncover more remains of walls relating to the house that stood at no. 84 Trafalgar Avenue and lots of slate roof tiles were also unearthed, many with the nail holes. Let’s see what tomorrow will bring.

Adam Corsini, LAARC, Museum of London

The first visitors on day 1 of the Burgess Park Community dig were local mothers taking their children to school and dog walkers out enjoying the morning sunshine. After hearing unfounded rumours over the weekend of new offices being built and the large horse chestnut tree being removed I was pleased to tell them that these things were definitely not happening, but that the local school children were going to be learning about local history through archaeology. One of the dog walkers had memories of his grandmother living in the adjoining road which is now part of the park. We spoke to a lot of visitors and will be trying to find out as much as possible from local residents about the area.

Two groups from St Saviour’s and St Olave’s helped excavate today. After 30 minutes of digging, they spent 30 minutes washing their newly excavated finds. Pupils found pottery, Bakelite, clay pipes, roof slate and bricks but perhaps the best find so far is a coin dated 1916 and an early 20th century leather shoe.

The students had brought enough sun cream and water to cope on what was a very hot day but I think the feedback we had from one student sums up their experience better than I could so thank you to Alicia for the following words.      

Dan Nesbitt, LAARC, Museum of London

“On the 28th June 2010, some kids from St Saviour’s and St Olave’s School went to Burgess Park, for the summer dig. When we got to Burgess Park, Kate was talking to us about new, old and older maps (maps about where we are). Then we go put into two groups. I was in Ms King’s group and we went to dig first, and washed up finds…I would love to go to the summer dig again, it’s soo cool and fun”

Alicia, St Saviour’s and St Olave’s

See our Flickr photostream for more photos from day 1 at Burgess Park