London publications and other links

This page features a list of organisations and groups with interests in London archaeology, which you may find useful.

Publications about London archaeology

This page celebrates the number, volume, and academic excellence of the wave of publications about archaeology in the London area which have appeared since 1997. We are also impressed by the fact that only some of them needed support from CoLAT. Developers are taking their true responsibilities of funding this exciting, new research on London and its history, from prehistory to the present. There has also been funding from English Heritage (from 2016, Historic England). We thank them all and show here some of the products of their funding.

These publications are available from the archaeological organisations which produced them, or from on-line bookshops such as Amazon and Oxbow Books.

Links

These links are of national archaeological organisations and societies; archaeological and historical groups and societies in the London area; archaeological contractors working in the London area; and research projects on London’s past and on-line access to research materials. We hope this will assist you in any application to CoLAT. We also intend this page to grow into a hub of information about current archaeological work in London and its region, and in comparable cities and their regions abroad.

National archaeological organisations and societies

Archaeological and historical groups and societies in the London area

For a fuller list, visit LAMAS Affiliated Societies .

The magazine which is often the first to announce discoveries in the London area, London Archaeologist.

Groups and projects concerned with the historic environment of London

Archaeological blogs and Twitter profiles

Archaeology is clearly lively and interesting in London. Here are some links to blogs and Twitter profiles of archaeological organisations and groups in the London area. To add a link to this page, please contact the Secretary.

Blogs

Twitter Profiles

Archaeological contractors working in the London area

Research projects on London’s past and on-line access to research materials

For news from archaeological projects around the world, type ‘archaeology blog’ into your search engine.

Archaeologists working in other historic towns

Archaeology and presentation of monuments in London since 1907

This section lists papers which describe, with references, the development of modern archaeological methods in the City of London, particularly since the 1970s.

  • ‘Hopes and Fears’
    •

    A lecture given by Peter Marsden in 2018, summarising the high points of his work as archaeologist at Guildhall Museum in 1959 to 1973, before the creation of the Department of Urban Archaeology by the Museum.

    (PDF, 4 MB)
  • ‘Archive reports of archaeological excavations in the City of London’
    •

    Trans London and Middlesex Archaeological Soc 32 (1981), 82–5 (covers the years 1973 to 1978)

    (PDF, 326 KB)
  • ‘The capital rediscovered: archaeology in the City of London’
    •

    Urban History 20 (1993), 39–52

    (PDF, 3 MB)
  • ‘Archaeological work in the City of London, 1907–1991’
    •

    From the introduction in J Schofield with C Maloney (eds), Archaeology in the City of London 1907–91: a guide to records of excavations by the Museum of London (Museum of London, 1998), 1–21

    (PDF, 6 MB)
  • ‘Archaeological Site Manual, 3rd edition (Museum of London, 1994)’
    •

    The current manual for the use of single-context planning in urban excavations, now used or influential world-wide. The first edition was in 1980; this third edition was produced with CoLAT support. Download it and use it.

    (PDF, 2 MB)
  • London Wall Walk Guide
    •

    In the 1980s the Museum of London produced an illustrated guide for a walk along the Roman and medieval wall of the City of London; this complemented a series of plaques at points along the wall which explained its 2000-year history. CoLAT is encouraging the City of London and the Museum to repair some losses among the plaques, and here publishes the text of the guide. Download it and enjoy the walk!

    (PDF, 14 MB)
  • Roads to Rome walk

    • CoLAT and the City of London have jointly produced two leaflets describing walks around the City which describe its Roman and medieval remains. You can get the folding leaflets from the City of London Information Centre in St Paul’s Churchyard (on the south side of St Paul’s Cathedral) which is at the start of each walk. Or you can download the text of each leaflet from the Historic Walks page.

  • Research Strategy for understanding the historic environment of London
    •

    Produced by the Museum of London and English Heritage (now Historic England) in 2015. This is to be used and referred to if possible in applications to CoLAT. It should also be used generally by all archaeologists working in the Greater London area.

    (PDF, 4 MB)
  • Archaeology in the City of London 1907-91: a guide to the records of excavations by the Museum of London
    •

    Edited by John Schofield with Cath Maloney, Museum of London. Web version 2021 of text produced in 1998. This introduces and then lists all the known excavations, with brief descriptions of what was found and their records, between 1907 and the end of 1991.

    (PDF, 2 MB)

CoLAT welcomes additions to this list of Research projects on London’s past and research materials, and would also like to develop a similar list of links to current archaeological projects in other countries which make notable progress in the archaeological study of towns and cities. Please send links to the CoLAT Secretary, John Schofield.

For John Schofield’s own work and research into London’s archaeology, see his website.