Summary

Part of the Roman wall known as London Wall including bastion number 4a.

Source: Historic England

Details

The monument includes a section of the Roman wall at Crutched Friars which forms part of the property boundary of Emperor House to the east and Roman Wall House to the west and is visible within their basements. It represents part of the eastern side of the London Wall circuit and includes a fragment of walling, 11m in length, with an additional section of its core to the south (located behind C20 party walling) and the remains of a bastion extending from the eastern face of the Wall. The Wall stands on a foundation trench of puddled clay and flint with a capping of ragstone which forms a raft supporting the main body of the Wall. The Wall itself rises from a sandstone plinth and has a rubble and mortar core faced with Kentish ragstone banded at intervals by tile courses. The section of Wall at Crutched Friars stands almost to its third tile course, approximately 3m above the level of the plinth. The base of the plinth is at c11.4m OD. The Wall is supported and topped by a C20 concrete and brick superstructure. The western face is protected by a glass screen in a former nightclub. The section of the core of the wall at the southern end of the site runs for 5m and is 0.31m wide

The remains of the C4 bastion are located on the eastern face of the Wall, towards the northern end of the site. Rectangular in plan, the foundations project 5.4m from the face of the Wall. The excavation showed that the foundations of the bastion have been stepped into the backfill of the C2 ‘V’-shaped ditch which is considered to be contemporary with the original construction of the Wall. The stepping of the foundations helped prevent subsidence. The solid ‘D’-shaped superstructure of the bastion comprises similar material to the Wall itself and included reused monumental masonry with fragments of an inscribed Roman tombstone, probably early C3 in date. Although a number of bastions on London Wall are known to have been reused during the medieval period the excavation of bastion number 4a recovered evidence that it had fallen out of use by the C13 and been lowered to the present height. The remains of the bastion are protected by a C20 brick retaining wall.

The scheduled area includes a 2m buffer around the wall and its bastion for the support and protection of the monument.

EXCLUSIONS
A number of features are excluded from the scheduling: these include the modern brick and concrete which now supports the eastern external face of the Wall, the brickwork which supports the Wall on the western face and the glass display chamber, the modern brickwork surmounting the wall on the eastern face, the walling which surrounds the bastion, the modern party walling enclosing the section of core at the south end of the site and all restaurant furniture, light fittings and display boards. The ground beneath all these features is, however, included.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

The part of London Wall at Crutched Friars, including remains of the Roman wall and bastion number 4a, is scheduled for the following principal reasons:
* Archaeological and historic importance: London Wall was pivotal to the protection of London from the Roman period until far into the Middle Ages and was a key factor in determining the shape and development of the city;
* Survival: this part of London Wall incorporates standing remains (within basements) that are up to 3m high above the level of the plinth, as well as the remains of bastion number 4a;
* Documentation (archaeological): this part of the Wall has been recorded through several excavations, providing important information regarding Roman and medieval civil engineering and construction techniques;
* Potential: the Wall retains potential for further investigation into its history and construction;
* Group value: this part of the Wall holds group value with the other surviving scheduled sections of London Wall and more widely with the scheduled Roman amphitheatre and public bath houses.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Merrifield, R, The Roman City of London, (1965)
Milne, G, Roman London, (1995)
Maloney, John , 'Recent work on London's Defences' in Maloney, John, Hubley, Brian, Roman Urban Defences in the West, (1983), 96-117
Maloney, J, 'The Discovery of Bastion 4A in the City of London and its implications' in Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society, , Vol. 31, (1980), 68-76
Other
MOLA - Roman Wall House (35-36 Vine Street and 1-2 Crutched Friars) London EC3 - Historic Environment Assessment (January 2013)
MOLA - Roman Wall House (35-36 Vine Street and 1-2 Crutched Friars), London EC3 - Interim Report (June 2015)

Source: Historic England