Buried in a pit in the heart of the Spitalfields, central London, some unassuming pieces of green metal were discovered, along with the other remains of a family’s life. These green lumps of corroded copper-alloy represent a family’s history and the growth of a suburb in one of the busiest cities in the world.
Our work at 5 Spital Square in the centre of London was just part of one of the largest excavations ever to take place in the city. Over the lifetime of the project, our archaeologists uncovered dozens of homes from the 16th to 18th centuries, along with a Roman cemetery, a medieval priory and a 17th century star-shaped fort.
The privy pits of the Post-medieval properties were filled with archaeological material, including the lumps of corroded metal. They were, in fact, the remnants of a umbrella manufacturing operation from the 18th-century. Charles Van Millingen, the patriarch of 5 Spital Square, was a London-born Jew of Dutch Ashkenazi descent. He moved to Spitalfields at a time of mass immigration from Europe and is listed in the 1851 census as an umbrella-maker.
