beginning (first part, dedicated to the opening of Mithraeum)
The oldest Roman buildings in the city defended their rights in the eternally under construction City of London, but the situation with the underground ruins of the Middle Ages was and remains more complicated. As archaeologists say, even in the middle of the twentieth century, “emperors and kings”, that is, the most ancient and most status monuments, were the subject of scholarly interest; the everyday life of a medieval city was only a subject of local history interest.
In the 1970s – 1980s, the fixation of architectural finds became a mandatory requirement, but after that, medieval walls were often destroyed, even if they were fairly ancient and preserved fragments. Only in scientific reports were the foundations of the royal castle of Baynards on the banks of the Thames and the spectacular "inlaid" masonry of the church of St. Botolph Billings gate and the adjoining wall of a 14th century residential building with preserved white-stone window slopes, found in 1982.
The same happened with the masonry of the church of St. Benet (St Benet Sherehog) XI century, excavated in 1995. This work was carried out in the adjacent quarter to the Temple of Mithras (1, Poultry) and also marked an important stage in the history of archeology in London. Despite the fact that the site developer was determined and went to the scandal, demolishing a number of notable Victorian buildings, archaeologists have secured sufficient time for excavation. In order not to hinder construction, research was carried out in parallel - archaeologists worked in the space under the ceilings of the lower tier of the new building.
Notable of recent work is the uncovering of the less impressive and less ancient, but still rather large-scale masonry of the late medieval suburban estate of Worcester House. The foundations of separate walls of the house and the passage tower retained areas quite suitable for exhibiting. However, since the construction of a transport facility is planned in their place, the issue of eliminating the interference was probably included in the sphere of national interests. The report's phrase “four tons of 16th century bricks were donated to the English Heritage Foundation for the needs of the restorers” sounds eerie by our standards.
At the same time, plans have been announced to preserve another 16th-century structure found in 2017 under the floor of Christopher Wren's Naval College. Because this is one of the rooms
Greenwich Palace, in which Henry VIII was born, because the building pleases with spectacular wall niches and floor paving, and because its preservation does not interfere with plans for the reconstruction of the college, but on the contrary, promises to decorate the interior of the museum's new information center.
There have been isolated cases of forced relocation of stone structures - for example, a stone mikvah (ritual Jewish bath) of 1270 found on Milk Street in 2001. Despite the recommendations to preserve architectural objects in situ, the mikvah was dismantled and transferred to the Jewish Museum. This case can also be considered an example of a not very successful compromise: ancient stones in a museum showcase resemble elements of a construction set.
The 14th century White friar’s crypt of the Carmelite monastery, which fell into the stain of large office construction in the 1980s, was relocated to a new location without a bulkhead, which would have turned into unconditional destruction for a brick and stone building. A concrete platform was brought under the vaulted room, then the crane moved the entire structure to the other side of the street. Now the outer wall of the crypt can be seen behind the glass in the courtyard of the new building; the interior is open to the public once a year.
The most successful example of in situ conservation of a medieval monument is the base of a poster - a small tower from the end of the 13th century that covered the gate at the adjoining of the city wall to the Tower Moat. It is located in a pit under the pedestrian bridge near the entrance to the Tower Hill metro station, the conservation of the discovered monument was included in the project of the station during its construction in the 1960s.
Also worth noting is the remarkable solution of the preserved section of the wall next to the Museum of London (south of London wall street). After being devastated by the bombing of 1940, the area lay in ruins for a long time, and archaeologists had time to look around. When new construction began in 1956, the site along the wall traced in the later cellars was left vacant. Not only fragments of the walls and towers of the Roman fort have been preserved, but also the fragments of the houses above them destroyed by the war. Firstly, the process of "growing" of the wall into the city is clearly shown, and secondly - another picturesque square with ruins. You cannot trample them, the place is fenced, but so that it is not empty, someone has settled a small apiary among the ruins.
It is worth mentioning another "park" facility, which will open in 2018. This is the renovation of the garden of the Alfégia Church, accompanying the construction of the London Wall Place high-rise office complex, designed by Make Architects. On the territory of the construction site there was a small garden adjacent to another section of the London Wall and a fragment of a Gothic church from 1329 standing a little further away. It is clear that a large construction project was a potential threat for them and it was not easy to agree on the project. The developers were assisted by specialists from the Museum of London Archaeological Service - not in the sense of cleverly circumventing security restrictions, but in the sense of working together on the project from the very beginning. The wall and church, formerly separated by a 1950s building, will now become part of a single green space. The hallmark of the facility will be the winding pedestrian bridges, sheathed with patinated iron, which will connect the garden with the galleries of the Barbican. Londoners hope this work will bring a useful fashion for hanging footpaths back to the city. And walking the horizontal of the passage is close to the ruins of the church, it seems that it would rather help to include in the complex a monument that previously looked very lonely.
In the event that the ruins are poorly preserved or the construction of a pit is technically impossible, but the building at the same time played an important role in the city's history, the signaling method is used for its manifestation - designating the contours of the building by paving modern streets, lawns of public gardens, and so on. The signaling of the contours of the amphitheater in Guildhall Square was mentioned above, a more striking project has recently been implemented - the southern garden of Paul's Cathedral, opened in 2008. It shows the plan of the Gothic chapter, which had an expressive form of a multifaceted tower with protruding buttresses and surrounded by an openwork gallery. The foundation stones of these buildings lie underground, and the contour of their plan, slightly raised above the level of the modern surface, became the basis for the layout of the new square.
signaling the outline of the chapter plan at the southern façade of St. Paul's Cathedral
For buildings, by London standards of the very late (XVII-XIX centuries), the practice of detailed fixation before demolition was adopted. This applies not only to underground facilities, but also to houses sentenced to demolition, which did not have a security status and which city defenders could not defend. The developer apologizes for funding detailed research and their high-quality publication - the liquidated historical object, as it were, continues to exist in the paper version. Nevertheless, sometimes we have to regret the loss of finds that are definitely interesting and spectacular - like the Doulton pothouse in Lambeth, unearthed in 2002. The inclusion of concentric stacks of 1870s stoves in a new space could be an important marker - making the site more layered and the new building more attractive.
Speaking about the criteria for the value of underground objects that can be part of the modern urban environment, thinkers propose to share the academic value and the potential for public benefit. As one of the modern studies says, the benefit is to provide future generations with as much material as possible to study the past, in order to form on this basis the most important "sense of common identity." And the possibility of causing it by expanding the boundaries of the museum space, by integrating ancient objects into the everyday life of the city depends on a long range of factors - from the socio-political situation and the strength of public opinion to the “dominant set of values”.
Tell the sovereign that the British do not clean the dominant set with bricks.
