100 Minories is a captivating multi-period excavation in the heart of London with an archaeological legacy spanning from Roman times right through to the modern era. Nestled between the Roman and Medieval City wall and the Medieval street of the Minories, the site is surrounded by important archaeological sites: the Roman eastern cemetery, medieval monasteries and the Tower of London. From the Tudor period onwards the site formed part of an eastern suburb of London that became known as the East End. Over the course of its long history, Minories has been home to melting-pot of characters, flocking to the doorstep of the ever-growing world city, it has been a hive of industrial and maritime activity and the site of high status Georgian housing. It is this extra-mural position, on the fringe of the City Proper at the beginning of the colourful urban sprawl of the East End, that makes the archaeology of the site a fascinating insight into London’s past.

From November 2014 to mid 2015, we will be excavating archaeological remains up to 8m deep across an area of 1500m2. The site is being developed by Grange Hotels. Our excavations will take us all the way from the Roman defensive circuit and the vast City ditch, through Medieval and Tudor houses and gardens, to a grand-scale Georgian development, The Crescent. With such a large and varied cross-section through time and social history, the archaeological research potential at 100 Minories is laden with possibilities for our understanding of the development of London. Here on this website you will find the latest archaeological knowledge from our team, covering everything from technical finds information, to digital work, data visualisation, as well as the ongoing updates from the 100 Symposium, our parallel seminar series, and experiment in commercial archaeology.

Whilst all archaeological information is somewhat limited and inconclusive until the final post-excavation analyses are completed, we believe at 100 Minories that commercial excavations should be happy to work in an open and transparent way, making our interpretations public even as they are developing. This website represents this state of knowledge in flux, our hypotheses and ideas should change as the site gives up its secrets. As well as our ongoing thoughts about the site, the website aims to give voice to the members of the project team via the 100 Symposium. Our data is all shared online via ARK as soon as it is checked and completed. All our data and the content of this website are released free for you to use under a Creative Commons licence subject to attribution.

Want to find out more about the 100 Symposium experiment, or the Archaeological Recording Kit? Use the links at the side of the page.