Monument record 0953000000 - Well on Buckingham Street

Trench 2.5m wide, 13m long and 4m-4.5m deep cut by Thames Water contractors in Buckingham Street to trace a sewage pipe rupture. The trench partially followed the cut for the original sewer pipe, running along the line of the street NNW-SSE; a recent shallow rectangular cut (c1.5m x 1.5m) was visible in the north facing section representing a modern trench also running NNW-SSE. The east and west sides of the trench, below the 10cm-15cm of tarmac surface, cut through various amounts of made ground and then into natural limestone. In the east facing section a large deep cut feature (c.2.5m) containing brick and tile, darker clayey soil and re-deposited limestone appeared to be a V-shaped trench cut for different phases of modern drains and services running east-west across the street. At the southern end of the east facing section there was a stretch of 4m of loose cobbles (c. 30cm thick) below which was a shallow orangey layer (c. 10cm thick) over a cut ditch-like feature of darker compacted clayey earth (c. 60cm, tapering towards the southern end). No brick or tile was visible in the ditch but close inspection was not possible. A brick-lined well or drain was partially truncated at the northern end of the trench (B1).