UCL Institute of Archaeology

The new BBC4 series on the Bridges that Built London, presented by Dan Cruickshank, features contributions from the Thames Discovery Programme team.     

The work of the Thames Discovery Programme (TDP), the community archaeology project now hosted by MoLA but still with a base at the UCL Institute of Archaeology, at Vauxhall was highlighted in the BBC documentary, where the condition of wooden piles from a late Bronze Age bridge or jetty (1770-1520 cal BC; 1620-1260 cal
BC)  is being regularly monitored on the fast-eroding open foreshore.

Mention was also made of an 18th-century timber-faced pile-retained revetment recorded by the TDP near Billingsgate, a structure that would have been contemporary with the internationally-famous medieval London Bridge (1176-1830), and built using the same techniques seen in the starlings (foundations) of that now demolished City icon.

The Thames Discovery Programme is now led by Nathalie Cohen and Eliott Wragg (both UCL alumni) with Gustav Milne (Honorary Lecturer), and has many UCL graduates in its fieldwork and survey team.

• Watch the Bridges that Built London again»
• Read more about the TDP's discovery of the oldest foreshore structure»