London: Work to give 21st-century London yet another skyscraper has uncovered traces – in fact, chunks – of the city’s origins almost 2000 years ago.
Archaeologists exploring the site of a planned 32-storey office tower announced they have unearthed the remains of a Roman basilica that once stood at the heart of the city known as Londinium.
Far from religious, a Roman basilica was a large civic building, often housing the town’s forum, courts and other government functions.
A representation of how the Roman London basilica, recently unearthed by a redevelopment of a City of London office building, would have looked 2000 years ago. Credit: Peter Marsden via AP
Excavations in the basement of a building slated to be demolished for the tower at 85 Gracechurch Street uncovered flint, brick and ragstone walls and foundations up to one metre wide, four metres deep and two millennia old.
Sophie Jackson of Museum of London Archaeology called it “one of the most significant discoveries” in years in London’s oldest quarter, the City – the 2½-square-kilometre financial district where modern glass high-rises stand atop the remnants of Victorian, medieval and even earlier structures.
What’s been uncovered are the foundations of a two-storey building almost as big as an Olympic swimming pool. It was constructed between AD 78 and 84, about three decades after Roman troops invaded Britain, and some 20 years after forces of the Celtic warrior queen Boudicca sacked the fledgling settlement.
The original basilica was two storeys high and likely housed the forum, other government offices and a market.Credit: AP
The basilica was part of the forum, the social, political and commercial heart of Roman London, where people went to shop, mingle, seek justice and hear the latest edicts from political leaders. The newly discovered remains are believed to form part of the tribunal, a raised area of the forum where politicians and officials made decisions about the city’s governance.
“It’s the beating heart of the city,” said Andrew Henderson-Schwartz, head of public impact at Museum of London Archaeology. “It kind of towers above the city. And so it’s a real symbol of Roman power and authority.
