The working life of Museum of London

The Museum has been carrying out ‘community excavations’ since 2005, and the formula of investigating a neighbourhood’s immediate history through excavation never fails to stimulate interest. Today I spent part of the day at the Burgess Park, or perhaps I should say on the corner of Trafalgar Avenue and Waite Street, as this has only been Burgess Park since fairly recent times, (it was named after Councilor Jessie Burgess, Camberwell’s first woman Mayor).

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

We were joined today by enthusiastic pupils from St Peter’s CE Primary School (see photo) and St Saviour’s & St Olave’s School. Everyone worked really hard to wash finds discovered during yesterday’s digging and to excavate more of the remains of no. 84 Trafalgar Avenue.

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

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