Owen Owen's Site

August 1936

EXCAVATIONS IN THE CROSS

Only a small portion of the quarry yet remains to be finished, and one interesting place will be excavated later in the month, and should it reveal any article I will report in next month's Magazine. Trinity Street has been commenced, and a new Broadgate is in the making. All old cellars are being filled in, while some of the stone walls are being demolished. In one wall of a cellar a mason's mark in the form of a cross was found; this in now in my yard, and differs from any other cross used as a mason's mark yet found. The deep cellar mentioned in the June issue of the Magazine has been broken into, but excavations did not reveal anything of importance, so its use still remains a mystery.

A number of brick and stone cellars run as far back as the tramlines under Broadgate, and they are being packed with solid material. Tiers of concrete are being made in each cellar by building a temporary brick open square from the solid, and pouring in the concrete. When finished, these will support strong girders, such as old tramlines, etc.

The sewers are being made, and at the bottom end of Trinity Street, at one time the Priors Pool, quite a lot of articles have been unearthed, such as pottery and leather; along with the base of a 14th century pinched base pot a very interesting piece of iron was discovered - this was a ring that carried the prop of a cart when not in use, showing the same method used to-day was used at least 600 years ago. From the north end to within a few yards of Ironmonger Row is made-up ground, so no old material is coming to light. Just at the south side of the boundary of the Pool (Smithfield Market) the piles of a cattle shed were found; this was part of a shed mentioned two years ago when I reported finding a skinner's knife, a butcher's knife, and a portion of a large vessel of the 14th century.

In Butcher Row and the Bull Ring the sewer on the east side is being made, and quite a lot of stone foundations are to be seen, one wall being 2-ft. 6-ins. in thickness, and the cellar floor made from the solid rock. In the centre of this cellar one part had been dug out, and human remains revealed.

When the floor-beams were taken of the cellar of the old half-timbered house on the right hand corner turning from Butcher Row into Priory Row, where the Rev. Bryan lived (who built the house in 1649), a very fine archway was discovered, showing how far the old Cathedral extended towards Holy Trinity Church, What this archway was for it is difficult to say; it may have been part of a tomb; quite a large part of the cellar was made of massive stonework.

The old 14th to 16th century crypt belonging to the Guest House has created great interest of late, when thousands of people trespassed over the dangerous ground to see the top being removed. Sewers are to be made through it.

Last month I reported Beauchamp tiles being found there, and now Mr. Chatwin informs me that one tile bears the Catesby coat of arms. Long before the Gunpowder Plot days the Catesby family were great people in this district and strange though it seems, we believe Catesby Lane joined the north end of Palmer Lane only 100 yards from this crypt. The groinwork with the massive stones on which it rested are to be rebuilt in an outdoor museum.

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