‘Completely unique’: Roman mausoleum unearthed near Borough Market and London Bridge
Archaeologists have discovered remains from a “completely unique” Roman mausoleum just a stone’s throw from Borough Market and London Bridge station.
At The Liberty of Southwark site, owned by Landsec, experts have uncovered the walls and interior flooring of a mausoleum, a type of Roman funeral monument.
In the middle of the floor is a “striking mosaic” surrounded by a raised platform on which the burials would have been placed. The lowest entrance steps into the structure also survive.
Experts said this level of preservation made it the most intact Roman mausoleum ever to be discovered in Britain.
Antonietta Lerz, senior archaeologist at Museum of London Archeology, said the find was “a microcosm for the changing fortunes of Roman London – from the early phase of the site where London expands and the area has lavishly decorated Roman buildings, all the way through to the later Roman period when the settlement shrinks and it becomes a more quiet space where people remember their dead.”
“It provides a fascinating window into the living conditions and lifestyle in this part of the city in the Roman period,” she continued.
The mausoleum would have been used by wealthier members of society. Experts suggest it could have been a family tomb or belonged to a burial club, where members would have paid a monthly fee to be buried inside.
Although the archeologists did not find any of the original burials, they did discover over 100 coins and fragments of pottery. Work to fully understand the site will continue, including pinpointing an exact date.
The mausoleum follows a “once-in-a-lifetime find” on the same site back in 2022, when archaeologists uncovered mosaics from a Roman dining room.
Roman London is among the most excavated Roman sites anywhere in the world as the continuous architectural developments provide evidence of the City’s past.