Hale Wharf, Tottenham, London

Client: Muse Developments Ltd and the Canal and River Trust

Hale Wharf is an 1.8 hectare island site in north London bounded by the Lee Navigation Channel to the west and the River Lea Flood Relief Channel to the east. The site belongs to the Canal and River Trust, the successor body to British Waterways. Until the start of 2017 light industrial units occupied much of the site, with mooring along its western boundary.

The Mayor of London has granted permission for up to 505 residential units and up to 1,607 sqm of non-residential floorspace to be created on the site. The development includes a new footbridge and other public realm works.

The archaeological interest of the site lies in the geoarchaeology of the Lea Valley floor, and the remains of a mill that existed on the site from medieval times until the turn of the 20th century. To facilitate evaluation of the site we prepared an Archaeological Mitigation Strategy and a Written Scheme of Investigation. Both documents were prepared in consultation with Historic England, the archaeological advisors to the London Borough of Haringey.

To assist in the procurement of an archaeological contractor we prepared an Archaeology Early Works ITT package for use by the Principal Contractor. The package contained the WSI, a Bill of Quantities to be completed by the archaeological contractor, and supporting geotechnical and archaeological background information. The first parts of the Early Works package were completed by MOLA, who prepared a deposit model based upon their GI observations, and Pre-Construct Archaeology, who undertook a programme of archaeological trial trenching.

The evaluation corroborated the deposit model and uncovered layers of prehistoric peat. To the south of the site the investigations discovered timber land ties associated with a leat depicted in the1844 Tottenham parish tithe map. Concurrent archaeological monitoring of groundworks encountered remains of a turnpike tollhouse and the mill itself.

In consultation with the client, Historic England and the groundworks contractor PCA Heritage designed and managed a programme of archaeological excavations to record the remains of Tottenham Mill. Pre-Construct Archaeology uncovered several phases of mill buildings, the earliest dating from the late 16th/early 17th-century period. The first recorded mill building was constructed soon after a flood had occurred in the late 16th century. A series of rebuilds undertaken throughout the post-medieval period reflected changes in the mill’s use and ownership, and were often triggered by destructive fire and flood events. A fire in 1860 was so devastating that it eventually lead to the abandonment of Tottenham Mills, although their remains are known to have been still standing on the site nearly 40 years later.

Let’s work together

Please get in touch and we’ll get back to you soon.