The heart of the Roman city, at No1, Poultry

The biggest, and probably the most expensive excavation ever to have taken place in Roman London was this site at Number 1, Poultry. 

The site was a controversial one. It was assembled, building by building by Lord Palumbo, who wanted to pull down the Victorian buildings and replace them by a skyscraper designed by Mies van der Rohe. Controversy rumbled on for years, until finally he was allowed to demolish the Victorian buildings, but he was not allowed to have his skyscraper, but instead a lower and arguably rather less distinguished building, which nevertheless has become one of the most sought-after prestige buildings in the City.

But it led to the excavation of a crucial area of the Roman city.

Here we see the entire excavated area. At the far apex of the triangle is the 'centre' of the City of London, with the Bank of England just hidden on the left, and the Mansion House on the right.

To the left is Cheapside, here known by its ancient name of Poultry, while the street to the right is Queen Victoria Street.

To make matters more difficult for the archaeologists, underground railways run under both streets.

As time is money, the archaeologists had to excavate while the new building was being erected above them, and underground trains rumbled behind the shuttering to the right.

Here a small Roman mosaic is being uncovered in the right foreground.

The site as uncovered. The triangle shows the excavated area. Beyond it, to the right is the small stream known as the Wallbrook that separated the two halves of Roman London.

The main Road, the Via Decumana crosses the Wallbrook and runs through the site, with two irregular roads leading off it: London was clearly not a planned city!

To the north of the street were no elaborate buildings, but instead two shops with the timber selling area to the front, and stone built living area to the rear. One of the stone buildings had a mosaic floor.