Crossrail Archaeology Programme

The July/August issue of Civil Engineering Surveyor contains an article by Jay Carver, Lead Archaeologist, Crossrail. You can read the article online through the journal's e-book portal ces.digitalpc.co.uk. Or you can just Google Civil Engineering Surveyor, scroll down to the Institution's journal and click on the July/August issue. The illustrated article is on P17-20. Jay highlights five sites where there were significant finds covering periods from the Ice Age to the 20th century: (1) Royal Oak Portal, where there were fragments of animal bones, mainly bison and reindeer, from the Ice Age 68,000-80,000 years ago; (2) Farringdon, where under the site of a new ticket hall  two phases of plague victim burials were found, probably from the period 1348-9; (3) Liverpool Street, another ticket hall, close to the remains of the Roman city, where a range of various finds from the Roman period have been made; (4 ) Stepney Green, where finds of building remains were made dating to the late medieval and early modern periods when a number of substantial buildings were located there; and (5) Canning Town/Limmo, where tunnel access and a maintenance shaft were constructed on the site of the Thames Ironwork & Shipbuilding Company, which launched many great warships between the mid-19th century up to 1912. Provision for archaeology was made by Parliament in the Crossrail Bill and work started in 2009. Much more will be revealed by 2015.