'But now of later time
the same ditch is inclosed, and the banks thereof let out for garden-plots,
carpenter's yards, bowling alleys, and divers houses thereon built, whereby the
city wall is hidden, the ditch filled up, a small channel left, and that very
shallow.'
At 100 Minories we will be excavating the City ditch which
surrounded the City of London. A wall and ditch was built around the landward
sides of the Roman settlement of Londinium around 200 AD, and along the Thames from
c 280 AD. Following the re-occupation
of London by King Alfred in 886 AD the walls and ditch resumed their defensive
function and there is evidence for the continued repair, rebuilding and
strengthening of the City wall and bastions throughout the medieval period. In
addition archaeological excavations have shown that the City ditch was repeatedly cleaned
out and recut.
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