Beam Parklands, London, UK
Long blades in the marsh: finding treasures in a wetland landscape
The creation of a new 53-hectare multifunctional wetland park for east London has provided access to a historic green landscape on the floodplains of the River Beam and Wantz Stream. It is a unique natural environment of biodiverse natural habitats including reeds, wet woodland, ponds, lowland acid grassland and hedgerows.
Working alongside our landscape architecture team, Arup’s archaeologists oversaw a large-scale investigation, helping the Environment Agency manage and reduce risks associated with unexpected finds once the main site works began.
Excavations uncovered evidence of Iron Age and Romano-British settlements, along with artefacts such as Late Mesolithic stone tools and ‘transition blades’ from the Upper Palaeolithic to Mesolithic periods. These rare and hugely valuable finds contribute significantly to the understanding of ancient human activity on a site which is now a safe, accessible, inclusive open space for local communities.
