Starting in 1972, London archaeologists began an extraordinary series of excavations on the City of London waterfront. The ground had been saturated with water since Roman times, so the quality of the finds was extraordinary.
This talk will summarise the main discoveries, and highlight some of the extraordinary objects that were found. Although the Museum of London has recently closed, the wonderful waterfront discoveries occupy a prominent place in the new London Museum displays.
From 1974-1992 Dr. Michael Rhodes was "Finds Officer" for the Museum of London's Department of Urban Archaeology. Here he led a team of 50 archaeologists, responsible for the care and study of finds from City of London excavations.
From 1988 to 1992, he set up the Waterfront Finds Museum - part of the Tower Hill Pageant. This won the Museum of the Year award in 1993.
Dr. Rhodes moved to Devon in 1992, to become The Head of Museum Services for Torbay Council. His main responsibility was for Torre Abbey, a Grade I listed building in need of major repair. He made two successful Lottery bids, which led to grants worth 8.5m, enabling the building to be saved and redisplayed. In 2015 he wrote the award-winning book "Devon's Torre Abbey: Faith, Politics and Grand Designs" (History Press 2015).
From 1999-2003 he chaired the Devon Museums Group, organising four annual conferences for museum professionals in Devon. He also undertook consultancies on archaeology and heritage for the Hong Kong government.
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