TOWER BRIDGE BUSINESS COMPLEX 100 Clement's Road aka The Biscuit Factory and Bermondsey Campus Site Keetons Road London SE16

Two evaluation trenches were excavated on the site between 24th and 25th October 2020. The natural was sand and gravels at c 1.10m OD, and this was overlain by a possible waterlain deposit in one trench. Both trenches had a soil horizon possibly representing the fields and market gardening in the area. There were also several brick walls of 19th century date that relate to the houses and a school seen on the late 19th century OS maps of the area. A deposit found in one trench may be evidence of the Second World War (1939-45) bombing of the area. Both evaluation trenches show the same sequence. Natural and and gravels were found at c. 1.10m OD. These were overlain by a possible waterlain silt deposit in Trench 1 and more natural looking clayey silt in Trench 2. the highest deposit in both trenches was dark brown silt that appears to be a soil horizon. Both trenches had brick walls of buildings. These results agree with the known historic and topographic evidence for this area. There were fields and later market gardening and the area was only built upon the mid-19th century as London expanded into the suburbs with the expansion of the railways and the tram network. There was dense terraced housing by the 1870s that was replaced by a school c1896 that remained until 1950. A new school was then built in the 1960s. The different colour of the brick walls found in the evaluation trenches may suggest there are two phases of building present (ie the terrace housing and the school) but only by opening a larger area would the functions of the buildings represented by the walls become clearer.