ABSTRACT

T H O U G H the bombed areas of the city (Fig. 2) were indiscriminately distributed both within and beyond the walls, the largest single zone of destruction was in the western half of the city, behind St. Paul’s Cathedral, from Barbican and Moorgate on the north to Thames Street on the south. Scattered buildings had indeed survived in this region: nevertheless, from at least one position on the north wall of the city it was possible looking southwards to see the church tower of St. Mary Somerset, which must be near the Roman river frontage. On the north the bomb-damaged area took in a very considerable length

of the line of the Roman city wall: practically from Moorgate on the east to St. Giles Cripplegate on the west; and thence southwards to Falcon Square and St. Anne and St. Agnes’ Church in Gresham Street, the last point being the inner angle of the Aldersgate re-entrant (p. 20). By no means all this expanse was available for investigation: many of the cellars still contained bomb-rubble, or were otherwise obstructed. In 1947, how­ ever, there were no priorities dictated by the building-programme, which had not then really started; and the Council decided that its first excavations should be undertaken in the comparatively unencumbered Cripplegate region, with the particular aim of learning more about the city wall, its date and structural features. This decision was not of course governed entirely by the practical requirements of the immediate situation. In the nature of things, the defences of a city are not normally as productive of occupation-material as are the actual dwelling-sites and it is upon