King Square Estate, Islington, London
5 - Pre-determination assessment/evaluation not undertaken; heritage assets identified during development
The absence of pre-determination assessment/evaluation on all or part of the development site (e.g. because of difficulties with access, refusal to evaluate) led to the unexpected discovery of archaeology during development that caused problems, such as delays to the development programme and/or the need for additional resources.
12 - A planning application was determined without specialist archaeological curatorial advice
The absence of specialist archaeological curatorial advice (adviser not in post; advice not given because of capacity or other issues) led to the determination of an application without appropriate consideration of the archaeological implications.
Undesignated heritage assets with archaeological and historic interest
Residential estate regeneration, comprising partial demolition of existing and construction of 6 new buildings providing 140 residential units and a community centre.
The site did not lie in an Archaeological Priority Area at the time of the application although documentary evidence indicated that a poorly located English Civil War fort and a later plague burial ground lay in the vicinity.
Islington Council granted itself planning permission for major estate regeneration without undertaking any consultation on the potential archaeological implications.
Once development had commenced groundworks revealed human remains. As an immediate consequence the police were involved but it became clear that the remains were from disturbed post-medieval charnel pits, disarticulated human remains being scattered across the development site.
The developer subsequently applied for a burial licence which specified the excavation of the pits and large-scale sifting of spoil. It transpired that the charnel pits were cut into the ditch of a Civil War fort. Mount Mill Fort was one of the largest forts in what was at the time one of the largest defended areas in Europe.
As a consequence of the discoveries the developer incurred significant extra costs, and delay to the development programme.
No resources were made available for post-excavation analysis and reporting. Human remains were reburied; the rest of the archive is currently held by MoLA. A request by MoLA for Historic England funding was not successful since the problems have arisen as a result of a failure to implement NPPF policy.
Partial publication is currently being considered in connection with an adjacent site.
Islington’s Archaeological Priority Areas are now being revised and Historic England has commissioned a pilot project to review evidence for London’s English Civil War defences.
The fort extends beyond the development site discussed here and another part of it has subsequently been recorded nearby.
