When thinking of the Gherkin, one of the capital’s most famous and iconic silhouettes in its skyline, you’d probably associate it with business professional types draped in suits and ties with briefcases in hand talking about contracts, deals and all very very serious important things. But the site of a Roman burial? Probably not.
In 1995, when St Mary Axe (that’s the Gherkin’s formal name) was being built, a skeleton of a young girl was discovered at the building site. The Museum of London Archaeology headed up an archaeological investigation to reveal that she was between 13 to 17 years old and lived approximately between 350-400 BC but other than that, little else is known of the girl.
Interestingly, the skeleton was found alone and not with other burials as part of a cemetery leaving more unanswered questions of who she was and what happened to her. Was she a Roman citizen? A slave? Someone who was just passing through?
The burial would have lain just outside an early boundary ditch marking the edge of Londinium and is dated towards the end of the Roman occupation of Londinium, who left Britain in AD410 to help their crumbling empire back in Rome. The body was found lying on its back, with its head to the south and its arms folded across the body, with pottery found in association with the body dating back 350-400 BC.
After the body’s discovery and the completion of the Gherkin, the unknown Roman girl was reburied at the same location where she was found at a funeral which followed Roman burial rights. A service was held at St Botolph’s Church in Aldgate and was followed by a procession to where the reinterment was taking place in Bury Street EC3 at the base of the Gherkin – a poignant reminder of the rich and long history of the city.
Now you’ll find her buried under a simple stone marker engraved with the Roman laurel wreath. Nearby are some marble benches commemorating the Roman girl and are inscribed with the quote ‘To the spirits of the dead the unknown young girl from Roman London lies buried here’, both in English and Latin.
Hundreds of Londoners and visitors probably pass through the plaque every day without noticing, but now you know! Amongst the hustle and bustle of London’s financial district lies a touching reminder of the big smoke’s big history.