Dominican Friary: Carter Lane

During two phases of excavations at 56-66 Carter Lane, 1–3 Pilgrim Street and 29-33 Ludgate Hill in 1987 and 1988, a substantial part of the Dominican medieval cemetery of London Blackfriars was revealed.

From the excavation and documented evidence, it is believed that a Norman Fortress originally stood on the site and that the Dominicans acquired the land in 1274 or 1276 as a stone quarry. They founded a friary nearby, known as London Blackfriars.

The burials date from the 13th to the 16th centuries, with a majority attributed from the 13th and 14th centuries. There was evidence of wooden coffins and grave linings. One individual was buried in a lead coffin.

The full extent of the cemetery is not known, but the infilled southern ditch, north of the church was known to have become the friary cemetery. The burials excavated from this area were of a standard Christian style, apart from the identification of a mass grave that contained 13 individuals of mixed age and sex, that appeared to have been interred at the same time and may have been from an epidemic. A total of 58 skeletons were excavated, of whom 57 were analysed.

The cemetery and the friary were no longer used after 1538 and the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII.

Variations in the method of recording: In dental pathology, the option of 0 and 9 was not implemented. Joints were recorded as present. No further grading was applied or four-digit array. Non-metrics were not recorded for subadults.

The skeletal preservation for the majority of the skeletons was good, while completeness varied among the adults, with a high degree of truncation and with the subadults being the least complete (Fig 1).

A total of 57 skeletons were included in the final analysis consisting of 48 adults (16 males, 12 females and 20 unsexed) and nine subadults (Fig 2 & 3).

The mass grave contained 13 individuals (6 subadults, 3 males, 2 females and 2 unsexed adults).

There were slightly more males than females, with the age ranges among them being fairly similar, but with more males in the age category of 26–35 years old. For a majority of individuals, however, it was not possible to assess the age. There were only 9 subadults in the total assemblage and 6 of these were from the mass grave. No subadults were aged at under 1 year old.

Stature estimation was only possible for 5 individuals and the ranges appeared consistent with the average stature identified for the time period.

In the London Blackfriars population, the most frequently observed pathological responses were non-specific periosteal reactions and indications of degenerative joint disease and osteoarthritis, which were evenly distributed among the males, females and unsexed adults.

Interestingly with trauma, no healed fractures were in males. As the individuals were not predominantly of an older population, certain diseases more readily associated with older adults were not prevalent with only one case of osteoporosis being noted.

Table 5 provides a crude distribution of vertebral pathologies in the adult population. These were consistently higher in the males, particularly Schmorl’s nodes and osteophytic marginal lipping.

The dental health of the individuals in the friary cemetery from Table 6 were all markedly affected by calculus, with all adults affected to some degree and two-thirds of the subadults. Carious lesions were predominantly identified in the adult population with females and males affected similarly. Hypoplasia was not uncommon among the individuals but was higher in the males as was periodontal disease.

The individuals interred in the London Blackfriars medieval cemetery are an interesting, if relatively small, assemblage and documentary sources show that local merchants and tradesmen were buried here.

The time period for the burials encompassed the Great Famine (1315–1317) and the catastrophic effects of the Great Pestilence (1348–1350), which may perhaps be reflected in the presence of the mass grave. No ancient DNA analysis has been undertaken on these remains.

Filer, J. 1991. Excavation round-up 1988, part1: City of London. London Archaeologist 6.10, 272–278, https://doi.org/10.5284/1070799

Gaimster, DRM, Margeson, S and Barry, T. 1991. Medieval Britain and Ireland in 1988. Medieval Archaeology 33.1, 161–241, https://doi.org/10.1080/00766097.1989.11735524

Heathcote, J. 1989. Excavation round-up 1988, part1: City of London. London Archaeologist 6.2, 46–53, https://doi.org/10.5284/1070825

Watson, B. 1987. The excavation of the Dominican friary cemetery in Carter Lane, EC4: assessment. Unpublished assessment report.

Watson, B. 1987. The excavation of the Dominican friary cemetery in Carter Lane, EC4: assessment. Unpublished assessment report.

56–66 Carter Lane, 1–3 Pilgrim Street, 29–33 Ludgate Hill, EC4

Site code: PIC87

Last updated: 2025