ABSTRACT
Though the dedication of St. Swithun’s Church is thought to be an early one the position here is not the same as for St. Bride’s. The Saint died in a .d . 862; the dedication could not therefore in any case be earlier than the late ninth century. The association with London Stone is of course simply one of proximity, for in a well-known passage Stow describes the stone as standing on the south side of the street (that is, Candlewick Street, the modern Cannon Street) ‘neere unto the channell’ .2 The incorporation of the
The Roman features have already been described (pp. 142!?.). The general result of the excavation was to show that disturbance by late burials had penetrated to a fairly uniform depth of about 6 feet below the existing floor of the church, the original natural surface being about 5 feet below that. As elsewhere, pre-existing stone foundations were left largely undisturbed by the eighteenth/nineteenth-century grave-diggers; and since in addition the early foundations were also preserved in the floors of the vaults more infor mation was forthcoming than seemed likely from a first inspection of the site. Two churches in succession had preceded Wren’s church. Of the first of
these, except in one place, only the base of the foundations had survived, incomplete and much broken up, as a single layer of chalk blocks (Plate 98). Within the area of the church there were three walls lying east-to-west at uniform depths of 6-7 feet below the modern surface. Of the north and middle wall only scraps remained. They were 16 feet apart. The wall to the south lay between the later vaults and was therefore better preserved. It was 8 feet from the middle wall. The arrangement suggests a relatively simple church of nave and single aisle having an overall width of 32 feet. The foundations were only 30-4 inches wide, so that the building could not have been of massive construction. Its internal length was presumably that of the later building (about 45 feet); but only on the east was there any indication of the end wall. There the original east wall could be seen to have been preserved between the later arcade-bases, the enlargement having been built up to it on each side (below and Fig. 49). One of the north-to-south Roman walls was incorporated in its foundation (Plate 96). Here also the chalk foundation of the south wall runs parallel with, and where best preserved touches, the east-to-west Roman wall. At its eastern end it rests directly upon the north-to-south wall already mentioned, but is cut by the founda tion of the later mediaeval church (Plates 96, 98). The date of the first church is uncertain, except in so far as it can be said
to be post-eleventh century, for pits producing pottery of this date were found within its area and had preceded its construction. This result would seem to contradict the view that the dedication was an early one, though the possibility cannot be ruled out that a timber church may have occupied the site in the beginning. The traces left by a timber church would have been slight, but some part of it would no doubt have survived in the area avail able, had it existed.
