A MINE OF TREASURES

Evening Star, Issue 19519, 29 March 1927, Page 12

A MINE OF TREASURES

DISGOVERY; 1H LOHOOH VIRGIN.PLOT OF LAUD - SECRET EXCAVATIONS' MADE. .History may in part ho rewritten—certainly it will be enormously enriched —by the. discovery that .has been inaae in London of a' piece of virgiu ground, Iho onlv virgin soil in London, and “ possibly the only virgin grpunclto be found, in any city of the world. ... It is a small tract of laud that has never, been builded on, containing _ in depth “15ft of solid history, dating from about the time 10,000 b.c. ; it stands behind Nevill’s Court, by Fetter Lane, concealed from sight by unusually high boardings, _ou the property of the Goldsmiths’ Company adjoining the old Moravian Chapel. The story of the discovery and the subsequent excavations constitutes one of the ■ quietest as well- as one of the most thrilling romances of the. City of London. EXQUISITE' CRETAN JEWEL. . Almost secretively the excavations have been going on behind the hoardings; and the discoveries in the earth already made date from the Paleolithic, Neolithic, and Iron Ages, continuously up till Saxon times, about 800 a.d,, when there occurs a curious gap in the discoveries, until about the thirteenth century, from which time there has been exhumed an extraordinary wealth of historic relics. The briefest summary of-the many remarkable discoveries made includes a flint from' the Paleolithic- Age, resharpened in the Neolithic Age ■ pari of a sword and sheath, variously identified as belonging to the latter part of the Iron Age, and—the chief prized all the treasures exhumed —a complete and exquisite Cretan jewel, recognised as part of a collar, and brought over by the Pliceniciatis when they came to trade with tho early Britons. The catalogue of the findings is almost endless, ranging as they do from prehistoric times to two and three centuries ago. . Tho discovery of the ground was an accident. Toward the end of the war Mr ' Hugh Septimus Gordon, a mining engineer, -applied to _ the Goldsmiths’ Company-to rent this piece of waste ground for “ allotment ” purposes. “ I wanted the exercise of a- little digging,” ho said, “ and I had turned over a few spades of the soil when I discovered this medallion” (the medal-lion-is a piece,of beautifully vivid blue Roman pottery). “It was not long before 1 found, .by the lay of the land and the nature or the soil, that I had, in fact, come upon a piece of virgin soil.”

AMAZING COLLECTION GROWING. Since this time Mr Gordon has devoted every spare moment to the work of excavation, with the enthusiastic support of the British Museum,.' the Roy a! Historical Society, and the Goldsmiths’ Company, to whom' the ground belongs. Mr Gordon, has bored, drilled, and ceaselessly dug up the soli, sifting every atom with infinite patience, setting aside his likely “ finds,” which arc later washed, re-examined, pored over by various - historical experts, and then added to the amazing collection in Xevill’s Court.

“ When. I have completed the digging, which, with luck, should' be in about three years, 1 shall, of. course, band over the collections to where rightfully they belong,” he said _ ; Apart from . the prehistoric and ancient relics. Mr Gordon’s collection is notable for innumerable clay pipes dug up, composing a real history of smoking since the discovery of tobacco; a rare coin, stamped with St. George; a perfect and comlpeto pottery plate from Cromwellian times; vases, plates, beads, pins from ancient Britain which are the size of Gin nails; and the earliest attempts at enamelware. . UNBOUNDED POSSIBILITIES.

“ There is no knowing what wo may find,” said Mr Gordon. “Almost anything is likely to turn up in those layers of history, which might well contain a story from IQ,OOO years before Christ.” A little drama is added to the situation by the; fact that the London County* Council, with the consent ofrthe Goldsmiths’. Company, may any moment stop further excavations by releasing plans, already drawn up, .for continuing some buildings right through the old court, thus abolishing Nevili’s Court and carrying *a main way through to Fleet street. " Meanwhile, however, the excavation goes on, in spite of, this Sword of Damocles over the heads of the diggers.