Tracks through time - Aaron Birchenough|S. M Hirst|S. M Wright|Museum of London Archaeology|Transport for London

The East London Line Project presented a unique opportunity, as
structures were demolished and cleared for London's latest
railway, to discover more about some of London's earliest
railways. This included previously undiscovered parts of one of
the world's first operational passenger railways, the Eastern
Counties of 1840.The new construction led to important archaeological discoveries,
particularly at the site of Holywell Priory and beneath
Bishopsgate Goods Yard in Shoreditch. The sparsely occupied
hinterland of Roman London either side of Roman Ermine Street was
used for occasional burials. Gradual medieval development came
with the foundation of Holywell Priory on one side of Shoreditch
High Street, contrasting with the outskirts of the village of
Shoreditch lining the other, with open fields to the east. The
growth of early post-medieval occupation, notably the earls of
Rutland's Tudor mansion on the site of the priory, followed the
Dissolution. The spread of the suburbs from the 17th century
onwards encouraged large-scale quarrying of brickearth and
brickmaking on the expanding periphery of new settlement, east of
Shoreditch High Street. By the mid 18th century the character of
the area had completely changed and it was covered with suburban
housing. In the early 19th century, the railway cut through the
area and continued to develop and expand throughout the century.