From medieval malt house to 20th-century pub: excavations at 9-11 Poplar High Street,Lonon E14 (original) (raw)

Archaeological investigations in 2002 at the site of the former White Horse public house at 9--11 Poplar High Street revealed evidence of medieval and post-medieval settlement. Medieval remains included a fired surface, possibly part of a kiln or oven and itself sealed by backfills which contained pottery sherds dated to between 1240--1350. Subsequently a sequence of probable malting kilns or grain ovens was constructed. A shallow cellar to the north of the kiln sequence may have been a processing area. A charred deposit overlying the floor of the cellar was found to comprise mainly charcoal fragments including twigs and straw. A similar charred deposit from a sixteenth-century pit to the north contained large amounts of straw, cereal chaff and cereal grains. The kilns and cellar were backfilled with a mixture of mortar, brick and tile. A pit cut into the backfill contained pottery dated to the late-sixteenth century, as did two pits in the central area of the site. A tavern called ...