At the close
of the week we were still excavating late 16th century
deposits within the test-pit sited over the City ditch; the adjacent borehole
records further deposits beneath these which should date to the disuse of the
ditch in the late medieval/Tudor period. John Stow records in the Survey of
London that the entire City ditch was ‘cleansed’ in 1477, and that parts of the
wall were repaired in brick at the same time. Sections of those brickwork
repairs, including ‘diaper’ patterned decorative work, are still visible at St
Alphege on London Wall.