The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1904-02-12
ROMAN
WALL IN LONDON
While Making Excavations on
the Site of Newgate 1t Is
Brought to Light.
FEET BELOW STREET
Some Yards of the Wall Have Yet to
Be Uncovered and 1t Is a Matter
Of Regret That 1t Cannot
Be Preserved.

Pail Mall Gazette: The excavations
n connection with the new Central Ses-
sions house to be built on the site of
Newgate have taken somewhat longer
han was anticipated, owing to the
remarkable depth to which previous
structures have been found sunk in
The ground. Nearly every cubic foot
If the vast area has had to be broken
Up by the pick before the shovel could
De employed, the brick walls and ce-
nent foundations of former buildings
completely covering the site to as great
4 depth as twenty feet below the pave
ment level.
In the work of demolition the labor
ers have constantly come across pieces
If Stone"ork and Roman walls, which
lad evidently been used by builders to
make the foundations of even older
structures than Newgate; but the most
important discovery was made a few
lays ago., when the workmen engaged
N ~excavating operations Immediately
under the old prison yard area came
Unexpectedly upon a mass Of hard ma
terial below the foundations of the now
demolished structure, which seem to
nave extended to quite remarkable
depths and in all sorts of unlocked for
directions The extraordinary hardness
Of the substance encountered, where 1T
was thought nothing tougher than Lon
Ion clay would nave to be dealt with,
occasioned some surprise, and as the
portion Of the old Roman wall was
gradually brought to light. 1t was.
moreover, in as nearly perfect a state
Of preservation as possible, being in
his respect very different to the frag-
ments revealed against the abutting
buildings on another portion Of the
site. The authorities, of course x
rnnfhI - onp, - oVn +ho l1tfn> Iy1,i1
are very much broken up by previous
builders, but the fine specimen of the
I'D London wall which has just been
Inearthed under the very foundations
Of Newgate is quite an unexpected find.
The newly revealed portion of the
wall, which used to extend from Lud-
gate 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 rubble ce-
mented together with a sort of concrete
In which lime predominates, as was
usual in Roman mortar. This sub
stance Is intersected every three feet
from the foundation upward by layers
of red Roman tiles, each measuring
some II inches in length by Il in
breadth, being from IL to 2 inches in
depth. When the workman's pickaxe
has broken them they look as 'faky'
as. piecrust, yet the men say they felt
las hard as iron" when their tools
struck them.
Some yards of the wall have evident
Iy yet to be brought to light, and in
this connection it seems a matter for
regret that some steps cannot be taken
to preserve such a remarkably fine
stretch Of ancient masonry as is now
being brought to light. Today the ex-
cavated portion puts one in mind of
some fine old castle ruin, the Illusion
being heightened by the fact that i'm
mediately on the top Of the old Roman
wall is some masonry which is evident
ly of a medieval period. The wall it.
self goes down OF to a very black soil,
whihc leads some to think that there
may at one time have been a sort of
backwash of the Fleet somewhere in
this neighborhood in former times.
Against Newgate street a portion OF
the medieval New Gate, which for
merly extended across the present thor
oughfare, but which Dance pulled
down in ITO when building the lately
demolished prison house, has just beer
unearthed. All excavations in connec-
ton with the erection of the new Ses,
sions house, however, will soon be com.
plete. Indeed, the foundations or
which the central tower will rest, and
for each of which some so, 900 bricks
/ ave been used, are practically finished