The Museum of London Archaeological Services and Pre-Construct Archaeology team believe the street may be part of the original Temple Mills lane, in the western area of a more recent mill complex that was demolished in 1854 before being covered by thousands of tonnes of rubbish and rubble over the last 150 years.

 

Once recorded by the Museum of London archaeologists the cobbles will be carefully dug up and stockpiled so they can be reused by parkland designers in the Olympic Park being created for the Games and legacy, which will be the largest new urban park in the UK since the Victorian era.

 

Archaeologists will now begin digging deeper to search for evidence of the original Knights Templar mill, known as Temple Mills , which started the industrialisation of the Lea Valley .

 

Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) chief executive David Higgins said: “Cleaning and clearing the Olympic Park has given us the unique opportunity to look back into the past of the area before it is transformed for future generations.

 

"The industrial heritage of the Lea Valley has played an important role in the development of London.

"Bringing back to life this cobbled street in the Olympic Park will be an important way of telling the fascinating story of the development of the area.”

 

Museum of London Chief Archaeologists Kieron Tyler said: “Investigating Temple Mills shows us how the Lea Valley ’s industry stretched from the medieval period right into recent years.

 

"As we look below the amazingly preserved Victorian remains to see the older mill structures the exact form of the crucial industries that served east London from this area will be revealed.”

 

The Lea valley was a rural area predominantly comprising common pasture and meadow, but the river and its channels were a valuable resource and were primarily responsible for the subsequent industrial development along the valley.

 

Between 1185 and 1278, the Knights Templar built a water mill at Temple Mills .

 

In 1308, a second mill was built on the opposite side of the mill stream, and the mills are described as being under the same roof.

 

After the suppression of the Templars the mills passed to the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, Clerkenwell (the Knights Hospitaller) and following the Dissolution they passed back to the crown and were leased to Clement Goldsmith in 1593.

 

Local activity increased when further mills at Temple Mills were constructed.

 

In the 16th century a gunpowder mill and a leather mill were added to the existing Temple Mill .

 

In 1627, Temple Mill was enlarged and modernised in order to grind corn and rape.

 

Two new mills were built on or beside the site in the 1630s these comprise a leather mill, which may have medieval origins, and subsequent logwood, gunpowder and a cutter’s mills.

 

In 1720, the mills were used to manufacture brass, tin and lead sheets, which may also have been an experimental foundry used by Prince Rupert for the production of toughened bronze items and then lead in 1757, although corn was still ground on the site.

 

Rocque’s map of 1746 shows Temple Mill straddling ‘The Mill River’ with a domestic property and garden a short distance to the east on the south side of Temple Mills Lane – the cobble surface may be part of the old Temple Mills Lane.

 

The archaeological investigations are part of the ODA’s work to clear and clean the 2.5 kilometre squared Olympic Park, much of it contaminated by its industrial past, to build the venues and parklands for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and legacy.

 

To prepare for the construction of the Velopark sorting machines have been sifting through 70,000 tonnes of landfill on the site so that it can recycled or reused.

 

The ODA invited Museum of London archaeologists and Pre-Construct Archaeology (MoLAS-PCA) to look for evidence of the original prehistoric Londoners right through to Roman, Viking, medieval and relatively recent industrial and military activities on the Olympic Park site.

 

Archaeological research is interlinked with work preparing for construction and shows that nothing of national importance requiring preservation on site is expected to be found.

 

Over 100 trenches have been dug and investigated and archaeological work has completed on the areas of the ‘Big Five’ permanent venues. Interesting remains have either been photographed and recorded or removed to form part of the Museum of London ’s collection.

 

Previous archaeological finds around the Olympic Park site including a prehistoric settlement and the skeletons of four prehistoric settlers on the Aquatics Centre site; Roman coin, Roman river walls and a complete 19 century boat used for hunting wild fowl on the lower River Lea on the Olympic Stadium site; and Second World War gun emplacements on the Velopark site.

 

Archaeologists have also been charting the topography of the site to build a picture of how the land and waterways have developed and how climate change has affected the area.