Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-wtssw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-16T14:56:08.492Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Roman Coinage from London Bridge and the Development of the City and Southwark

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 November 2011

Michael Rhodes
Affiliation:
Museum of London

Extract

From 1824–41 thousands of Roman coins were recovered from the Thames during the rebuilding of London Bridge and during subsequent dredging operations to deepen the river channel and remove submerged remains of the previous bridge. The coins covered a wide date range, from the reign of Augustus to that of Honorius. It is generally accepted that the great majority were probably votive offerings which had been tossed into the river from a Roman bridge on much the same alignment as its medieval successor.

Type
Articles
Information
Britannia , Volume 22 , November 1991 , pp. 179 - 190
Copyright
Copyright © Michael Rhodes 1991. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Smith, C.R., ‘On the Roman coins discovered in the bed of the Thames, near London Bridge from 1834 to 1841.’ Numis. Chron. iv (1841). 147-68 and 187–94Google Scholar.

2 C. Welch, A Modern History of the City of London (1896), 157 and 161.

3 Anon., ‘London Bridge’, Gentlemans Magazine (July. 1827), 69.

4 British Museum. Department of Medieval and Later Antiquities. C.R. Smith's MS. notebook/journal ‘1836: Vol. II. Notes on Discoveries in London, and also on private matters’, entry for May 31, 1836: Smith, C.R.. Restrospections, Social and Archaeological II (1886). 206Google Scholar.

5 C.R. Smith's MS. notebook/journal, op. cit. (note 4), entry for Jan. 25. 1837; C.R. Smith. Catalogue of the Museum of London Antiquities (1854), 5 and 9.

6 Ehrenberg, M., ‘The Occurrence of Bronze Age Metalwork in the Thames: An Investigation’. Trans. London Middx. Arch. Soc. xxxi (1980). 45Google Scholar.

7 C.R. Smith. Illustrations of Roman London (1859). 163-4.

8 Smith, op. cit. (note 1). 194.

9 Smith, C.R.. ‘Roman London’. Arch. Journ. i (1844, for 1845). 113Google Scholar.

10 C.R. Smith's MS. notebook/journal, op. cit. (note 4). entry for Dec. I. 1837.

11 Smith, op. cit. (note 1). 149.

12 Corporation of London Record Office. Reg. No. 33b. 1829, Plan of London Bridge Approach.

13 Anon., ‘Metropolitan Antiquities’. Gentlemans Magazine., Pt. I (Jan., 1833). 69.

14 Knight, W.Observations on the mode of construction of the present old London Bridge …’. Archaeologia xxiii (1831), 117–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

15 Liverpool County Record Office, Mayer Papers (unlisted), unpublished essay by C.R. Smith: ‘Some Remarks on London in the time of the Romans …’. 18.

16 Smith, op. cit. (note 1). 154-8.

17 G. Parsloe. ‘Notes on the site of the Roman Bridge at London’ in Royal Comm. Hist. Mons., An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in London. Vol. III. Roman London (1928). 192-4.

18 A.L.F. Rivet and C. Smith. The Place-Names of Roman Britain (1981), 346-8; see also Ad Pontem, Durocobrivae, Pons Aelii, and Pontibus.

19 Sheldon, A.H., in Bird, J. et al. (eds), Southwark Excavations 1972-74 London Middlx. Arch. Soc. & Surrey Arch. Soc. Joint Pub. 1 (1978). 1327; G. Milne, The Port of Roman London (1985). 44-54Google Scholar.

20 Smith, op. cit. (note 7), 21.

21 cf. Meaney, A., Anglo-Saxon Amulets BAR 96 (1981), 271.Google Scholar

22 R. Merrifield, The Archaeology of Ritual and Magic (1987), 26.

23 C.R. Smith, ‘Notes of the Month’, in ‘Antiquarian Intelligence and Proceedings of Learned Societies’, Gentlemans Magazine (Jan., 1866), 37-43; The Roman Wall. Procolitia’, in Collectanea Antiqua vii, Pt. 2 (1879, for 1880), 127Google Scholar.

24 For bibliographic references, see B.W. Frier and A. Parker, ‘Roman Coins from the River Liri’, Numis. Chron. X (1970), 90, n. 1.

25 Casey, J., ‘A Votive Deposit from the River Tees at Piercebridge, County Durham’, Durham Arch. Journ. v (1989), 3742Google Scholar; Gedye, N.F. in ‘ProceedingsProc. Soc. Antiq. Newcastle-upon-Tyne iv (1910), 222–4Google Scholar.

26 Frier and Parker, op. cit. (note 24), 90; Houghtalin, L., ‘Roman coins from the river Liri. IIINumis. Chron. cxlv (1985). 67–8; Casey, op. cit. (note 25), 37; L. Allason-Jones and B. McKay, Coventina's Well. A Shrine on Hadrian's Wall (1985), 6-11Google Scholar.

27 A.J. Kempe, Londiniana No. I' Gentlemans Magazine (May, 1835), 493; Smith, op. cit. (note 5), 6. no. 15.

28 Merrifield, op. cit. (note 22), 97-102.

29 Smith, op. cit. (note 7), 75; J. Brailsford, Guide to the Antiquities of Roman Britain (1964), 71. and fig. 37. no. 1.

30 Smith, op. cit. (note 5), 84.

31 Smith, C.R.. ‘On some Roman Bronzes discovered in the bed of the Thames …’, Archaeologia xxviii (1840), 3846Google Scholar.

32 Merrifield, op. cit. (note 22). 30 and 97-101.

33 Smith, C.R., ‘Bronze Forceps found in the Bed of the Thames’. Archaeologia xxx (1844), 548–55Google Scholar; Francis, A.G.. ‘On a Romano-British Castration Clamp used in the Rites of Cybele’, Proc. Royal Soc. Medicine xix (1926), 95110Google Scholar.

34 Smith, op. cit. (note 1). 160-3.

35 Merrifield. op. cit. (note 22). 109-11.

36 Respectively: Casey, op. cit. (note 25), 41: Houghtalin. op. cit. (note 26), 68; Walker, D.R., Roman Coins from the Sacred Spring at Bath Oxford Univ. Comm. Arch. Monograph 16. Fascicule 2 (1988), 285Google Scholar.

37 Houghtalin, op. cit. (note 26). 67-81.

38 Hassall, M.W.C. and Tomlin, R.S.O.. ‘Inscriptions’ in ‘Roman Britain in 1986’. Britannia xviii (1987), 360–3CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

39 Bidwell, P.T. and Holbrook, N., Hadrian's Wall Bridges English Heritage Arch. Rep. 9 (1989), 46Google Scholar.

40 Heslop, R.O.. ‘A Roman Altar to “Oceanus” and Altar Base from the Tyne Bridge’, Proc. Soc. Antiqus. Newcastle-upon-tyne i (1903-1904), 50–2Google Scholar; R.G. Collingwood and R.P. Wright, The Roman Inscriptions of Britain (1965), Nos 1320-2.

41 K. Humann and O. Puchstein, Reisen in Kleinasien und Nordsyrien (1890), 393-5. Taf. XLI-XLIII.

42 Combe, T.. ‘Account of some Saxon Antiquities found near Lancaster’. Archaeologia xviii (1817), 199202CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

43 Smith, C.R., ‘List of Roman Coins recently found near Strood’, Numis. Chron. ii (1840), 112–24Google Scholar.

44 J. Casey, pers. comm.

45 A Descriptive Catalogue of Rare and Unedited Roman Coins … (1834); Coins of the Romans relating to Britain (1836).

46 Smith, op. cit. (note 1). 152-3 and 194.

47 Hammerson, M., ‘The Roman Coins from Southwark’. in Hinton, P. (ed.), Excavations in Southwark 1973-76, Lambeth 1973-79 London Middlx. Arch. Soc., Surrey Arch. Soc., Joint Pub. 3 (1988), 417–26Google Scholar.

48 Walker, op. cit. (note 36). 282-5.

49 The Faustina and Commodus medallions survive in the British Museum. Department of Coins and Medals, Reg. Nos 1935-4-4-3 and 1935-4-4-2, respectively.

50 Walker, op. cit. (note 36). 284.

51 Casey, J., ‘The Interpretation of Romano-British Site Finds’. in Casey, J. and Reece, R. (eds). Coins and the Archaeologist BAR 4 (1974), 41–3Google Scholar.

52 Smith, op. cit. (note 7). 154.

53 Ravetz, A.. ‘The Fourth-Century Inflation and Romano-British Coin Finds’, Numis. Chron. iv (1964), 201–31; Casey, op. cit. (note 51); P. Curnow. ‘Coin Lists: Some Problems of the Smaller Sites’, in Casey and Reece. op. cit. (note 51), 52-63Google Scholar.

54 Hammerson, M., ‘The Coins’, in Bird, J. et al. (eds). Southwark Excavations 1972-74 London Middlx. Arch. Soc. and Surrey Arch. Soc. Joint Pub. 1 (1978), 588–93Google Scholar.

55 Geography II. 3; see Haverfield, F., ‘Roman London’, JRS i, pt. 2 (1911), 146, n. 2. Another explanation is that Ptolemy was simply mistaken on this point, see A.L.F. Rivet and C. Smith, The Place-Names of Roman Britain (1981), 299, 398Google Scholar.

56 Milne, op. cit. (note 19). 37.

57 G. Milne, pers. comm.

58 Hammerson. op. cit. (note 54). 594.

59 Casey, op. cit. (note 25). 42.

60 S. Piggott. William Stukeley. An Eighteenth-Century Antiquary (2nd edn., 1985). 139-41.

61 British Museum. Department of Medieval and Later Antiquities. C.R. Smith's notebook/journals: op. cit. (note 4), entry for Jan. 23, 1836; ‘Vol. IIII. 1840 & 1841’, entries for April 15 and May 17, 1840. and Aug. 19. 1841. Note also one of his earliest publications: C.R. Smith, ‘Coin of Carausius’, Gentlemans Magazine (March 1837), 267.

62 Smith, C.R.. Collectanea Antiqua IV–VII (1857-80)Google Scholar.

63 Casey, op. cit. (note 51), 37.

64 Walker, op. cit. (note 36), 310.

65 Presumed sold, as it is no longer extant in the British Museum.

66 J. Schofield, L. Miller and M. Rhodes, The Roman Quay at St. Magnus House, London London Middlx. Arch. Soc. Special Paper 8 (1986), 72.

67 G. Milne, pers. comm.

68 Walker, op. cit. (note 36), 283.

69 S.S. Frere, Britannia (1974), 333–4.