Project Description

The former course of the Hogsmill river.Redevelopment of Charter Quay has provided a rare opportunity for large-scale archaeological excavation within the historic core of Kingston-upon-Thames. Kingston was an important Saxon town during the 9th and 10th centuries, sited around and to the north of All Saints Church (the site of St Mary’s Chapel).

The market place and settlement of land to the south of the river Hogsmill appear to have been of later medieval origin. It is this fascinating and often unexpected story of the town centre’s development from the 12th century onwards which has been unveiled by the excavations at Charter Quay by Wessex Archaeology.

The excavation has also provided the details necessary to populate that townscape with the people that ran its businesses, worked in its industries, cooked and ate in its inns and constructed its buildings.

We can glimpse, for instance, the hand of the 12th century carpenter who cut the complex scarf joint used in the wall-plate of a market place building. The work of the cook at the Saracen’s Head preparing a lavish meal for her guests – perhaps courtiers or diplomats staying in the town to be near the royal palace at Hampton Court. We note that Sarah Browne, proprietor of the Castle Inn, carved her initials into the brickwork and her new oak staircase in 1651 after the inn’s refurbishment. We can see evidence of the boat builders, bakers, shoemakers, maltsters and butchers, all of them representing a diversity and continuity of town life over some 900 years.

The shape of the market place and property boundaries which can still be seen today. Perhaps the most significant discovery was the role that the river Hogsmill had in determining the layout of the market place and its environs. Running northwards from the Clattern Bridge, an early course of the river lay immediately behind the market frontage buildings. The gradual and progressive filling in and reclamation of the river throughout the 13th –16th centuries had a major influence on the layout of streets and alleys, the shape of the market place and property boundaries, which can still be seen today.

The excavations, undertaken during 1998 and 1999 by Wessex Archaeology, were funded by the developers St George West London Ltd and monitored on their behalf by CgMs consulting Ltd.

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