Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-12-12
DISCOVERIES IN NEWGATE
Part Of Roman Wall Unearthed in
London.
From the Pail Mall Gazette.

From the Pail Mall Gazette.
The excavations in connection with the
new Central Sessions House to be built on
the site of Newgate have taken somewhat
longer than was anticipated, owing to the
remarkable depth to which previous struc-
lures have been found sunk in the ground
Nearly every cubic foot of the vast area
has had to be broken up by the pick before
the shovel could be employed, the brick
walls and cement foundations of former
buildings completely covering the site to as
great a depth as twenty feet below the
pavement level
In the work of demolition the laborers
nave constantly come across pieces of
stonework and Roman walls which had
evidently been used by builders to make
the foundations of even older structures
than Newgate; but the most important dis
covery was made few days ago, when the
Workmen engaged in excavating operations
Immediately under the old prison yard area
came unexpectedly upon a mass of hard
material below the foundations of the now
demolished structure which seem to have
extended TO quite remarkable depths and
in all sorts of unlocked for. directions The
extraordinary hardness of the substance
encountered, where it was thought nothing
tougher than London clay would have to
be dealt with, occasioned some surprise
and as the work was carefully proceeded
with portion of the old Roman wall was
IT,.
over, in as nearly perfect a state of preser-
walton as possible, being In this respect yery
different from the fragments revealed
against the abutting buildings on another
portion or the site. The authorities of
course, expected to come across the latter.
which are very much broken I'D by previous
builders, but the fine specimen of the old
London wall which has just been unearthed
under the very foundations of Newgate is
quite an unexpected find.
Inc newly revealed portion Of the wall
which used to extend from Ludgate on the
west to the tower on the east, and from
London wall on the north to the Thames on
the south, Is some fifteen feet high and
eight broad. being made of what modern
builders would call Kentish rag or a rub
BILE cemented together with q sort of con-
crete IN whlch lime predominates, as was
usual In Roman mortar. This substance is
lntersected every three feet from the foun-
dation upward by the customary bonding
OF two rows or layers of red Roman tiles
each measuring some seventeen inches in
length by twelve in breadth, being from one
and one-half to two inches in depth When
the workman's pickax has broken them
they look as iaky'' as pie crust, yet the
men say they felt las hard as iron" when
the tools struck them.
Some yards of the wall have evidently yet
to be brought to hight, and in this connec-
uon 1t seems matter for regret that some
steps cannot be taken to preserve such a
fine stretch of ancient masonry. Today the
excaVated portion puts one in mind of some
line old castle ruin, the illusion being
heightened by the fact that Immediately on
the top of the old Roman wall is some ma
sonry which is evidently of a medieval
period. The wall itself goes right down to
very black SOIL which leads some to think
that there may have been a sort of back
wash of the Fleet somewhere in this neigh
borhood in former times
Against Newgate street a portion of the
medieval New Gate, which formerly extend
ed across the present thoroughfare but
which Dance pulled down in ITO when
building the lately demolished prison house
has just been unearthed. All excavations
in connection with the erection of the new
Sessions House, however, will soon be COM
plete. Indeed, the foundations on which
the central tower will rest. and for each of
which some fifty thousand bricks have been
used are practically finished