Three Quays, on the north bank of the Thames immediately west of the Tower of London, lay within the south-eastern quarter of Roman Londinium and formed part of the city's waterfront infrastructure. Timber quays were constructed here from the later 1st century AD onwards, with successive revetments extending the waterfront southwards into the river through the 2nd and 3rd centuries; a massive stone riverside defensive wall was added in the late Roman period, generally dated c. AD 270–290.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
This stretch of waterfront was central to the commercial life of Londinium, the principal port of Roman Britain, handling imports of wine, oil, samian ware and building stone, and exports of British goods. The construction of the late 3rd-century riverside wall — closing off the previously open waterfront — reflects the broader insecurity of the period and the militarisation of the lower Thames, possibly connected with the Carausian revolt or earlier seaborne raiding.
Excavations along the Lower Thames Street / Three Quays frontage (notably at adjacent sites such as New Fresh Wharf, Custom House and St Magnus House from the 1970s onwards) have revealed substantial oak quay timbers preserved in waterlogged deposits, dendrochronologically dated, together with reused monumental sculpture (including the Screen of Gods and altars from Blackfriars
Three Quays, on the north bank of the Thames immediately west of the Tower of London, lay within the south-eastern quarter of Roman Londinium and formed part of the city's waterfront infrastructure. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a site site from the Roman period in Britain.
The Roman riverside wall and wharves at Three Quays is classified as a Roman site — a civilian site in the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer. Roman Britain's archaeology encompasses thousands of sites ranging from legionary fortresses and marching camps to villas, temples and towns.
Several Roman sites lie within a short distance, including The Roman riverside wall and wharves at Sugar Quay (0.1 km), Billingsgate Roman House and Baths (0.3 km), London Wall: remains of medieval and Roman wall extending 75yds (68m) N from Trinity Place to railway (0.3 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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