This year for the first time, the Thames Festival was a month long, with over

100 events from open-air cinema by the river to floating hippos at Vauxhall.
On land, Gustav gave a lecture at UCL, and a guided walk/talk at Museum of
London, while Eliott lectured at the Museum of London in Docklands as part
of a foreshore finds day. On site we ran eight guided walks to Greenwich,
Vauxhall, Deptford, Bermondsey and the City foreshore. We could not
have done this without the support of the fantastic FROG team who led the
majority of the visits thank you! Well be using the money raised from the
walks to undertake radiocarbon and dendrochronological dating of some
timber samples, so thank you also to all those who came along to a walk, and
have supported this research. Over 500 people also attended the Tower
of London Open Foreshore event with us, Thames21 and the Thames and
Field Metal Detecting Society we hope everyone had a fantastic time
exploring Londons *best* archaeological site. *not at all a biased opinion.
g
THAMES DISCOVERY PROGRAMME
AUTUMN 2014
Written by The TDP Team
DISCOVERY IS JUST THE
BEGINNING...
NAS and TDP Annual conference
The Nautical Archaeology Society
and the Thames Discovery
Programme are teaming up this
year to hold a joint conference.
We start off with a social drink in
Greenwich on Friday 14 November.
On Saturday and Sunday 15-16
November the TDP and NAS have
programmed a series of lectures
on a variety of topics covering
archaeology from mean high water
to the depths of the deep blue sea.
The programme includes a variety of
international speakers from a range
of heritage sectors. And of course
there will be the annual conference
raffle, a social event on the Saturday
evening at the Lord Raglan pub, and
a Sunday closing drink. Tickets can
be booked on Eventbrite at https://
nas-tdp-conference.eventbrite.
co.uk. Hope to see you there!
g
The FROG in action on
Tower beach
Events 2
Feature 3
Feature 4
Features contd 5
Other News 6
Other News 7
IN THIS ISSUE
TOTALLY THAMES
Written by Nathalie Cohen
Feeling generous? You can easily donate at
mola.org.uk/support-us
EVENTS
11 October
BANKSIDE WALK
Join the TDP for a walk along
the south bank foreshore, find
artefacts and learn more about
the history and archaeology of
historic Bankside. We will be
meeting at the Globe Stairs at
10.00am. Make sure you bring
your wellies!
For more information see http://
www.thamesdiscovery.org/events/
bankside-walk
14 October
ROCK OF AGES
Decipher the marks left by
masons over hundreds of years.
Join built heritage specialist
James Wright from MOLA
for this lecture and find out
more about stoneworking and
marking, including the moulded
and worked stone that the
TDP recorded at the Houses
of Parliament foreshore. Ticket
price includes a glass of wine!
For more information and to book
see http://www.thamesdiscovery.
org/events/rock-of-ages
11 October
THAMES ARCHAEOLOGY
DAY
The Southend Museum is holding
a day of lectures all about Thames
Archaeology. Speakers include
Steve Webster and Alison James
presenting on the London wreck;
Graham Scott on a German WWII
aircraft wreck; and our very own
Eliott Wragg on recent Thames
discoveries. For more information
visit our website at http://www.
thamesdiscovery.org/events/
thames-archaeology-day
15-16 November
POSTER SESSION
At the joint TDP / NAS annual
conference we will be having
a poster display. Interested in
showing people what you or your
local group have been working
on? Send a short description of
you poster idea to Courtney at
cnimura@mola.org.uk before 31
October. For more information
on the conference or to book
your ticket see https://nas-tdp-
conference.eventbrite
CALENDAR
As part of the Mondays at One Autumn
Series for Gresham College, there will be
four FREE lectures on aspects of Londons
archaeology, held at the Museum of London.
Join Nathalie Cohen to hear about the nearly
20 years of archaeological investigation of
the Thames intertidal zone at Greenwich that
have revealed a multi-period site. On 13th
October hear Lyn Blackmore, MOLA Senior
Specialist, give the lecture London in the
not-so-Dark Ages: an overview of the results
of over 40 years of archaeological research
into the origins, development and decline
of the Middle Saxon trading settlement of
Lundenwic. For more information see http://
www.thamesdiscovery.org/events/gresham-
college-series
20 October
VANISHING
ARCHAEOLOGY:
THE GREENWICH
FORESHORE
DONATE FOLLOW US
Guided walk at Rotherhithe foreshore
FEATURE
We commenced the fieldwork programme with a training session for new FROGs
at Custom House in March where we re-recorded the grid iron but also discovered
some new things about the causeway running down from Custom House Stairs.
There appeared to have been an earlier phase on a different alignment, an alignment
which made more sense with the gap in the river wall for the stairs. On closer
examination it looked as though this area of the site had been undergoing deposition
and that the original stair base had become obsolete and raised to a new level by
using the ashlar blocks of the earlier causeway.
We then, as is now traditional, kicked off the summer season proper at Greenwich
Palace in April where we also ran a second round of FROG training. As ever at
Greenwich the erosion is moving on apace, this year some of the original base
plates of the Medieval jetty had moved while more of the piles were visible. I write
Medieval in inverted commas as this year we had the experienced eyes of Damian
Goodburn, expert in ancient woodworking, down on site and he assures us that the
structure dates to the Tudor period- who am I to argue? To the east of the now Tudor
jetty another jetty structure, probably of similar date was also recorded emerging
from the foreshore. We then moved to the shipbreaking site at Charlton to continue
with detailed recording of some of the Duke of Wellington timbers which have come
adrift from the platform.
In May we decided to undertake a week of monitoring some of our West London
sites where the erosion is generally much less severe, visiting Isleworth, Brentford,
Strand on the Green, Chiswick, Fulham and Putney. Some new features were
recorded and the opportunity was taken at Brentford to trial the new vessel
recording sheets we have been developing for the CITiZAN project. Thanks for all
your comments!
In June we visited Rotherhithe and worked at the eastern end of the site on the re-
used ship timbers gridiron. Some of the original timbers had eroded away and new
ones, in particular a number of gun carriages, had taken their place. (contd on p. 5)
2014 eldwork summary
Written by Eliott Wragg
Anglo-Saxon sh trap on the Chelsea foreshore
3
The FROG on the Houses of
Parliament foreshore
FEATURE
At 2pm on October 29th , a plaque will be unveiled by the Lord Mayor of London.
It commemorates the work of Sir Thomas Peirson Frank, London County Councils
Chief Engineer during the dark days of the London Blitz (1939-45). His heroic
contribution to the saving of London can now finally be recognised in a ceremony
next to the House of Parliament, attended by his surviving relations and death.
A worse Blitz?
During the London Blitz some 70 years ago, the Luftwaffe pounded the capital with
incendiary and high-explosive bombs during 101 daylight and 253 night-time raids,
and with 80,000 fatalities or serious casualties. But it could have been even worse.
London also faced the very real threat of widespread flooding caused by bomb
strikes to the river wall itself. During the famous Dam Busters raid of 1943 RAF
bombers breached two dams in the Ruhr valley in Germanys industrial heartland.
That single raid caused a flood that put many armament factories out of production,
and drowned more than 1,000 souls. But what if the Luftwaffe had breached our river
walls during the Blitz, or flooded the Underground, where so many Londoners sought
refuge?
Fieldwork on the Thames foreshore and recent research of unpublished records in
the London Metropolitan Archives by the Thames Discovery Programme community
archaeology team, has revealed that the Thames river walls were in fact hit more
than 100 times between 1940-45. It is not widely appreciated just how close we came
catastrophe.
A Civil Engineers War
Sir Thomas Peirson Frank arrived in London in 1930 to work for the LCC in the
aftermath of the infamous 1928 flood that saw the river wall breached. 14 people
were drowned in their basement apartments, and 4,000 Londoners made homeless.
The engineer was thus fully aware of the threat the Thames posed to London in
peace-time, and therefore of how much worse things might be during an aerial
bombardment. As the prospect of war loomed he commissioned a survey of the
most vulnerable riverside sites in all the riparian boroughs. A new rapid response
unit was then set up, called the Thames Flood Prevention Emergency Repairs Unit,
or TF (Thames Flood) for short. They operated from four depots established in the
heart of the areas most at risk, in Battersea Park, Southwark, Greenwich and on the
Isle of Dogs. The careful planning paid off. All four teams were catapulted into action
from the 7th of September 1940, when the Blitz erupted with startling ferocity. From
then until the 29th of December they were called out to 40 riverwall bomb strikes.
The Man Who Saved London
from Drowning
Written by Gustav Milne
4
View from the foreshore of
damaged river wall
View from Victoria Tower Garden
of the damaged river wall
FEATURES CONTD
THE MAN WHO SAVED LONDON CONTD...
FIELDWORK CONTD
1941 was no less hazardous, with 20 major incidents during the single massive 10th
of May raid alone. By the end of the war they had responded to and contained 122
major incidents. These endeavours were conducted largely in secret with minimum
publicity, so as not to alarm the public, or alert the Luftwaffe to this soft target. Any
one of those bomb strikes could have had catastrophic consequences for low-lying
London and, in the light of recent Thames floods, Sir Thomas Peirson Franks work
deserves greater acknowledgement.
In Belated Recognition
Following on from a feature for the BBC TV programme /Coast /screened earlier
this year, a plaque will be unveiled in Victoria Tower Gardens next to the Houses of
Parliament at 2pm on 29 October. Appropriately the plaque will be set on a parapet
that was blown apart on March 16th 1941, but repaired shortly afterwards. The deep
scar on the river wall itself can still be seen when the tide is out from the foreshore,
or from across the river on the Albert Embankment. Present at the unveiling will be
representatives from the Institution of Civil Engineers (Peirson Frank was elected
President for 1945-6) who generously funded the plaque, the Greater London
Authority (successor to the LCC), the UCL Institute of Archaeology and the
Museum of London Archaeology s Thames Discovery Programme team and last, but
by no means least, the proud relations of Sir Thomas Peirson Frank himself.
g
Gustav inspects bomb damage
remains on the foreshore
FROG members busy
recording on the Tower of
London foreshore
5
We also focussed on some of the keel timbers that had not previously been fully
recorded. It now looks as though four ships are represented on the site, possibly late
18th century frigates, and interestingly, it is becoming increasing likely that these are
foreign vessels possibly captured in battle by the Royal Navy.
We next visited two sites east of the City, Wapping and Aldermans Stairs for
monitoring purposes before spending four days working at the Tower of London.
Due to the dangerous erosion occurring in the east of the site and consequent
danger of instability of the river wall, the features that we have worked on for the
last four years had been covered by rock armouring. We, therefore, focussed on
recording a probably 19th or early 20th century barge bed revetment at the western
end of the site.
In August we undertook monitoring visits to Vauxhall, Victoria Tower Gardens and
Chelsea before returning to Rotherhithe, this time working at the western end of the
site where the erosion was just as bad. We re-recorded the barge beds containing
the whalebone fragments, noting a number of timbers, including a very large rudder
which had not been previously visible.
Due to Totally Thames, and Courtney and myself being away at a conference, we
did not run any fieldwork in September, but we will be at Convoys Wharf, Deptford
between the 9th and 15th of October. Well report on that in the next issue. You
can see photos from summer fieldwork on our flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/
photos/thamesdiscovery
g
OTHER NEWS
Help us fund this important project
With your help, we want to document Londons famous waterway in an age before
cars, bridges, buses and over-crowded trains, to rediscover a time when Londoners
routinely took to the river to get around their great city.
Public transport is a major challenge in any large town, and London has tried many
different solutions over its long history. In the late 16th century, some 2,000 river
taxis (wherries) plied for hire on the Thames: by 1725 that number had increased
to 15,000. In this period it is recorded that there were at least 88 regulated landing
places on the river bank in the London area, the equivalent of todays busy bus stops
and tube stations. But what did they look like? Most comprised a river stair or jetty,
with a causeway laid out over the foreshore that allowed passengers to board the
boats at any state of the tide.
The CrowdFunding Project
Our FROG team is working on a major survey of the historic sites associated with
Londons lost waterway, recording whatever still remains of the open foreshore.
We will map the known waterway sites, survey the best surviving examples of river
stairs and causeways, and prepare illustrated histories of the most important landing
places. We also want to fund the set up of an online (crowdsourcing) method on
the MicroPasts platform to allow volunteers to transcribe relevant documentary
material, and then pay someone part-time to make a final check of the results. Finally,
we want to have a public show-and-tell day at the Museum of London and archive
our digital datasets so they are permanently and publicly accessible.
To do all of this we have launched a crowdfunding campaign with Micropasts, an
AHRC funded collaboration between the Institute of Archaeology, London and
the British Museum. Please check out our campaign page: https://crowdfunded.
micropasts.org/projects/londons-lost-waterway to find out more and to contribute
to the project thank you!
Londons lost waterway:
Step into the Past
Written by Nathalie Cohen
6
Stairs at Richmond
Collapsed stairs outside Trinity
Almshouses
OTHER NEWS
The Development phase of the project CITiZAN: the coastal and
intertidal zone archaeological network is nearing completion. The team
are awaiting the decision from the HLF on our Delivery phase grant
(crossing fingers in mid-November!), but have been anything but idle in
the meantime. From Turkey to Scotland to numerous coastal locations
around England, read on to find out more ...
Since our last report in July, Eliott, Courtney and Gustav have been driving around
the country in search of coastal and intertidal archaeology. The car boot is filled
with wellies and 30 m tapes, and the back seat riddled with fish and chip remains
and empty Lucozade bottles. After a brief trip to Cornwall for some coastal walking
amongst Iron Age remains around Zennor, we headed out to Istanbul to speak at
the European Association of Archaeologists conference. Upon our return we drove
straight out to Suffolk, where the archaeologists from Suffolk County Council and
members of the Aldeburgh and District Local History Society took us around the
foreshores of the river Alde and the river Stour (pronounced st-oor, as were told).
On the Alde we investigated a possible causeway and two Roman red hills. On the
Stour we saw a new (gigantic) fish trap, as well as the remains of a known fish trap
situated next to some sizeable jetty remains. From Suffolk we headed down to
the Pett Level on the Sussex coast near Hastings, to see our pal Dr Scott Timpany
from ORCA Marine who was training locals to record the prehistoric submerged
forest that is over a mile long. Professionals and volunteers worked side-by-side to
record individual trees and root systems, take dendrochronology samples and dig
a couple of test pits for environmental sampling. On site were joined by TDP and
CITiZAN supporters Dr Mike Allen (Allen Environmental Archaeology) and Ian
Barnes (National Trust). From there to Glasgow, where we teamed up with our sister
organisation SCHARP and future project partner NAS to record a group of mud
punts hulked on the foreshore of the Clyde. Click on the blue hyperlinks to see more,
or for pictures of our coastal and intertidal jaunts, check out the CITiZAN flickr page
here https://www.flickr.com/photos/citizan. Feel free to get in touch if you would
like any more information.
g
CITiZAN works with
Suffolk County Council
archaeologists (and some
cows) to record a Roman red
hill on the Alde foreshore
Written by Courtney Nimura
CITiZAN SAILS ALONG...
...from the Clyde to the Pett Level
The Thames Discovery
Programme is hosted
by Museum of London
Archaeology
Tel. 0207 410 2207
thamesdiscovery.org
TDP, Mortimer Wheeler House
46 Eagle Wharf Road, London
N1 7ED
Eliott
ewragg@mola.org.uk
Nathalie
ncohen@mola.org.uk
Courtney
cnimura@mola.org.uk