Life and death in London's East End - Christopher Thomas

In 1991 Spitalfields Market in London's East End was relocated,
paving the way for one of the largest and most complex
excavations ever launched in London, taking place on a site
measuring almost thirteen acres. This superb book tells the story
of the excavation and the 2000-year history of the area from the
Roman period to the present day. Details on the finds recovered,
and the methods and recording systems used, are interspersed with
a narrative history of the site. The book begins with the Roman
burial ground and the remains of a wealthy Roman woman and her
sarcophagus which became the focus of a memorable episode of
Meet the Ancestors . The book then moves on to the medieval period and the 12th-century hospital which was founded at
Spitalfields along with its church, infirmaries and other
buildings, and burials. Finds from this period are supplemented
with broader discussion of life in medieval London, such as
disease and medicine, and the changing landscape around the site.
During the Reformation, the hospital and priory were closed but
the story of the site continued. The land was taken by the Crown,
parts of the site were leased, most notably as artillery ground,
with new housing and cottage industries to follow. Finds dating
to the English Civil War, evidence relating to the transformation
of the site from an aristocractic enclave to a suburb of
immigrants, the redevelopment of the area in the 17th and 18th
centuries, through to the opening of Spitalfields Market in 1682,
brings us full circle.