100 Minories dendrochronological dating

Oak revetment at 100 Minories, the revetment has been dated by dendrochronology to between 1567-75, and very likely is that mentioned by Stow in 1569

News in from the #100Minories post-excavation programme where dendrochronological (tree ring) samples on a revetment within the London City Ditch have returned dates that closely match known documentary sources. The dendro dates strongly suggest that the oak plank revetment is that described by antiquarian John Stow as being built in 1569 when a new ‘sewer’ and ‘wharf of timber from the head of the Postern [Gate] into the town ditch’ was built. 

This gives us a calendar date for one of the main ditch revetments, and means we can better calibrate the date of our other revetments and ditch recuts. Of great interest is that the timber revetment stops on the line of the northern boundary of the Liberty of the Tower. This suggests we may have physical evidence for different administrative regimes and their methods of ditch management.

Urban Archaeology's Chiz Harward was Project Officer at LP Archaeology's excavation at 100 Minories, and is working on the post-excavation programme.

Read more at http://100minories.lparchaeology.com/18-timbers/

For more information on John Stow and the City Ditch, read this post -written before we excavated the ditch.