Charlton Foreshore Archaeology
Uploaded by
Thames Discovery ProgrammeCharlton Foreshore Archaeology
Uploaded by
Thames Discovery Programmethames discovery programme
Charlton FGW14
The zone is approximately 650m long and 50m wide. There are modern
concrete stairs / ramp access off Riverside, outside the Anchor and Hope
public house. This is in good condition, but lacks a handrail and can become
slippery at times. There is a short drop from the bottom of the ramp to the
foreshore surface. The ground conditions on the site are generally firm at the
top of the foreshore area (with some soft patches), however the lower part of
the foreshore is completely inaccessible due to dredging.
archaeological and historical background
prehistoric
The earliest substantial activity recorded in the Charlton area comprises a small defended
enclosure (hill-fort) at Maryon Park (‘Charlton Camp’), some 600m southeast of the foreshore
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site, which was excavated during the early 20 century. Bronze Age ceramics and flints were
also recovered here suggesting earlier occupation. It is possible that further evidence for
Bronze Age activity, such as marshland trackways and platforms, remain to be discovered,
from deeply buried alluvial deposits. Neolithic/Bronze Age lithics have been recovered from
higher ground during excavations at Victoria Way c 500m south of the site.
roman
The extent of settlement activity in the area is difficult to define. It has been suggested that
Woolwich Road, running parallel to the river, is Roman in origin, and that a signalling station
was located upstream of the site on the Greenwich peninsula. It is possible that sand and
gravel was quarried from Gilbert's Pit, close to Maryon Park during this period, and there is
some evidence for saltmaking, in the form of briquetage. Excavations have also revealed
insubstantial timber buildings, a possible circular mausoleum and traces of industrial activity
including iron and copper slag.
medieval
The present-day centre of Charlton dates to the Anglo-Saxon period; the place name means
the town of the ceorles or husbandmen. The earliest documentary evidence for Woolwich Road
dates to 1023 (when the body of St Alphege was carried along it from London to Canterbury).
There is a reference dating from 1077 to the church at Charlton while Cerleton is mentioned in
the Domesday Book of 1086. In the early 13th century, according to lore, King John had his
way with the wife of the miller of Charlton and, in recompense, granted him land as far as
Rotherhithe and allowed him to hold an annual fair, the (cuckold's) Horn Fair which survived up
until 1872.
post medieval
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The area of the site lay to the east of land reclamation schemes of the late 16 to 17
centuries. In the early eighteenth century Daniel Defoe wrote of:
... Charleton, a village famous, or rather infamous for the yearly collected rabble of mad-people,
at Horn-Fair; the rudeness of which I cannot but think, is such as ought to be suppressed, and
indeed in a civiliz'd well govern'd nation, it may well be said to be unsufferable. The mob indeed
at that time take all kinds of liberties, and the women are especially impudent for that day; as if
it was a day that justify'd the giving themselves a loose to all manner of indecency and
immodesty, without any reproach, or without suffering the censure which such behaviour would
deserve at another time.
Later in that century Rocque’s map shows Charlton as a village, with the area close to the
foreshore being fields or marginal land; Hope and Anchor Lane (then Manor Way) does not
extend as far as the river’s edge. Throughout the nineteenth century this riverside land was
gradually built upon and the road extended; notable activity on the riverfront included the Cory's
barge building site and, by 1909, the nearby Central Tram Repair depot. A ship-breaking yard
was opened at Charlton in around 1856 and it is from here that Castle & Beech operated. The
yard was known as ‘Anchor and Hope Wharf’ and/or ‘Riverside Wharf’ and appears to have
been the property of the Crown.
A301 Jetty Concrete, L-shaped jetty
A302 Jetty Timber squared posts, earlier form of A301. 10 posts extant
A303 Hard Consolidation deposit beneath jetty
A304 Flood Defence New river front
A305 Watercraft Recent timber (ply) vessel, metal cabin inaccessible
A306 Watercraft Ply flat-bottomed barge (remains of) against riverwall
A307 Flood Defence Earlier (pre A304) river wall, squared posts of varying dimensions
A308 Watercraft Vessel fragment, ex-situ
A309 Flood Defence Waterfront timber planking faced with concrete uprights
A310 Flood Defence Waterfront including accessway, timber towards the west, concrete facing towards the east
A311 Artefact scatter Artefact scatter - burnt stone and building debris
A312 Structure Timber post (rectangular) in front of A310 concrete waterfront
A313 Watercraft Remains of plywood barge
A314 Flood Defence Timber waterfront - very degraded at high waterline, set into concrete
A315 Watercraft Large squared worked timber ?part of a boat/ship
A316 Watercraft Large squared worked timber ?part of a boat/ship
A317 Artefact scatter Nails
A318 Watercraft Large square worked timber? Part of a ship/boat?
A319 Watercraft Large square worked timber, curved ship/boat?
A320 Flood Defence Brickwall, sitting on timber, 0.7m high
A321 Structure Area of timber stakes
A322 Barge Bed Barge bed? Chalk and rubble, planking
A323 Mooring Block Mooring post. Inaccessible. Iron chains
A324 Structure Area of small timber
A325 Watercraft Series of posts - vessel
A326 Mooring Block Large secured timber set into ground
A327 Slipway Barge fragments set into ground surface
A328 Artefact scatter Nail scatter with A327
A329 Watercraft Curved squared ships timber
A330 Watercraft Squared ships timber
A331 Watercraft Degraded piece of timber
A332 Hard Area of aggredation containing timber chalk and brick
A333 Watercraft Stack of timbers, squared ships timber