ROMAN FORUM IN LONDON.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17393, 2 March 1922, Page 9

ROMAN FORUM IN LONDON.

WALL 1700 YEARS OLD. ' Walls of a Roman building belonging possibly to the third or fourth ctntqry have been uncovered by Post Oißc* workmen laying cables is Gracachurch street, London. When the trench was cut, write* a •'Daily Chronicle'' representative, ft wall, about 2ft 6in thick, with p»U>t«d plaster, was found 13ft down. < • Another wall 44ft thick was found at right angles to it, with features indicating that it once formed part of an inner clumber of a Roman publio building. The plaster was square panelled with simple painted ornamentation. Portions of Btnall tessellated brick war* also found. Mr Lambert, F.S.A., of the GinMhfU (Museum, who has been TTAtchiOg tho work, said that tho proximity of the remains to thoso found and preserved in the basement of a hosiery establishment close by lend colour to the (Suggestion that the present discorories are associated with tho original Forum of Roman London. ,"lt also confirms the theory of antiquarians," ho said, "that old London streets did not conform to the thoroughfares of the origiual Roman city. "~ "Even though many discoveries bearing upon Roman London hare been mmlo in rrr?ri:t times," ho said, "it is impossible to reconstruct any detailed plan. There is not one single complete plan of any Roman building yet recorded. "Discoveries made in 1881 shotrfd that tho Forum buildings were on the site of tho present Leadenhall Market. The Grarechurch street portions of public Roman buildings seem to have extended originally in tho direction of Leadenhall. "There was a Roman building ctratchir.g from Gracechurch street right across tho centre of the Leadenhall Market, and its wall was 12ffc thick. "Approximately the older of the t«ro walls just found is not earlier thin tho third century, so that the town was even 1 hen old when they were built, for coins of Claudius, dated about A.D. 00, have been found in the city. - '