No 1 Poultry

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1 Poultry

1 Poultry is an office and retail building in London. It was designed by James Stirling on a site owned by Peter Palumbo, the controversial property developer. It was completed after Stirling's death by his architectural partner Michael Wilford. The building is one of the leading postmodern buildings in London with use of bold but perhaps unsubtle forms and colours. Opinions on the building are divided among architecture critics; amongst the readers of Time Out magazine, it was voted the fifth worst building in London.

While construction was underway, a major archaeological dig was undertaken by the Museum of London Archeological Service MOLAS (directed by Peter Rowsome). This excavation made several significant discoveries, including a wooden drain along the main Roman road. Using dendrochronology, this was dated to 47 AD, suggesting this may be the date of the foundation of Roman Londinium.

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Peter Rowsome Heart Of The City Museum Of London, 2000

Peter Rowsome is a Senior Archaeologist at the Museum of London Archaeology Service (MoLAS) and wrote Heart of the City as a booklet aimed at the general reader interested in London's archaeology and history. The booklet summarises the findings at 1 Poultry, one of the largest and most important archaeological sites excavated in London in recent years. The archaeological sequence begins with the Roman foundation of the town just before AD50 and continues through nearly 2000 years of history, including: a complex history of Roman development up until about AD400; abandonment in the 5th century and reoccupation by King Alfred in the 9th century; Late Saxon, Norman and medieval growth, including the parish church and burial ground of St Benet Sherehog; Tudor and Stuart London; and the Great Fire and the beginnings of modern London.

The popular booklet will be followed by a series of academic monographs providing detailed information on the Roman, medieval and post-medieval findings. The monographs are due for publication in 2007 and 2008.