London’s Waterfront and its World, 1666–1800

Contents

Summary

1 The waterfront of the City of London, 1666 to 1800: introduction to the study

Conventions, methods and the archive

2 The port of London, 1666 to about 1750

Major public works on the City waterfront after the Great Fire

The reconstruction plans of Wren and Evelyn and the New Quay

London Bridge

Public buildings and places in central and eastern Thames Street

Transport networks: wharves, stairs and how shipping was managed; carmen and their carts

Conclusions: the structure of the port

3 The archaeological excavations of 1974–84

Thames Street above the Bridge, 1666–1780: the Swan Lane and Seal House excavations and their setting

Swan Lane (site A) – John Schofield, with contributions by Lyn Blackmore and Jacqui Pearce

Seal House (site B) – John Schofield, with contributions by Lyn Blackmore, Jacqui Pearce and Stephen Freeth

Fishmongers’ Hall

New Fresh Wharf (site C) – John Schofield with contributions by Stephen Freeth

Billingsgate (site D): documentary evidence – Stephen Freeth

Billingsgate (site D): excavation – John Schofield, with contributions by I M Betts, Jacqui Pearce and Alan Pipe

4 Living and working in London, 1666 to 1750

Settlements and buildings along the Thames

Buildings, material culture and lifestyle in post-Fire London

Conclusions to this chapter

5 The waterfront from 1750 to 1800, and the growth of large-scale warehousing

Custom House, London Bridge, Billingsgate and the Coal Exchange, 1750–1800

Upstream of the Bridge 1750 to 1800

The growth of large-scale warehousing in the City from 1730 to 1800

The Sufferance Wharves and other wharves nearby

Public buildings as celebrations of empire in the 18th and early 19th centuries

6 London and slavery, to 1800

7 From 1796 to the 20th century

Congestion, the debates of 1796 and proposals

Nineteenth-century developments on the City waterfront and immediately to the east

8 London’s connections with other ports, 1666 to 1800; post-medieval waterfront archaeology elsewhere

British ports and coastal shipping

Foreign and colonial ports

9 The port of London, 1666 to 1800: a summary and some questions for further research

General arguments

Detailed questions on the sites and their setting, 1666 to 1800

Overall conclusions

10 Specialist reports and appendices

Pottery and other artefacts – Jacqui Pearce and Lyn Blackmore

Post-medieval coins from Billingsgate – Julian Bowsher

Ceramic building material from Billingsgate – I M Betts

Cowrie shells from Billingsgate – Alan Pipe

Introduction and methodology

Inventories of Richard Beckford (1679) and Francis Minshull (1704) – Stephen Freeth

Résumé

Zusammenfassung

Documentary sources, bibliography and abbreviations

Primary Sources

Printed Sources and Abbreviations

Index

About the Author

John Schofield was an archaeologist at the Museum of London from 1974 to 2008. Between 1975 and 1983 he identified and organised all the archaeological excavations in the City of London. He has written extensively about the archaeology and buildings of the City at all periods. He is Secretary of the City of London Archaeological Trust and from 1990 to 2021 was Archaeological Consultant to St Paul’s Cathedral.

Stephen Freeth read Classics at Cambridge and then trained as an archivist. From 1986 to 2007 he was Keeper of Manuscripts at Guildhall Library, looking after the archives of City of London institutions including the parish churches, London Diocese, St Paul’s Cathedral and many of the City livery companies. He now works part-time for two livery companies, the Merchant Taylors and Vintners. He is a trustee of the British Records Association, and a former trustee of the London Record Society.

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