Tracing the trade and travels of elite animals in late medieval and Tudor London – The Past

Centuries before the advent of planes, trains, automobiles, and other mechanised forms of long-distance transport, horses played a vital role in countless forms of labour and leisure. During the late medieval and Tudor periods, they were invaluable working animals – and in the rarefied circles of the royal court they were also prestige goods in their own right, potent symbols of their owners’ status that were sourced from across Britain and much further afield. We know that Henry VIII, for example, counted animals from the Low Countries, Spain, and North Africa among those within his stables, while other late- and post-medieval accounts refer to diplomatic gifts of horses from such far-flung locations as Iberia, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East.

Such references hint at how diverse Britain’s Tudor horse population may have been, particularly in London, but records for this period are sporadic and patchy at best. They point to particular areas – such as southern Italy and Lombardy, Spain, and the Central Alps – being particularly well-regarded as centres of horse-breeding, but archaeological opportunities to interrogate these patterns further have been rather limited. Late- and post-medieval horse burials are rare in Britain; more common are disarticulated bones discarded in domestic middens or rubbish dumps associated with industries like tanning.

This picture is becoming clearer, though, thanks to a unique site in London excavated by MoLAS (now MOLA) 30 years ago, and ongoing research based at the University of Exeter. The latter project, titled ‘Warhorse: the archaeology of a medieval revolution?’ is an innovative initiative combining studies of the physical remains of historical horses, associated artefacts, and landscapes linked to horse-breeding and -training in medieval and Tudor England. The researchers recently published a case study in Science Advances (see ‘Further reading’), exploring how analysis of a series of burials from Westminster has helped to piece together details of the animals’ lives, illuminating their journeys within (and, in some cases, to) Britain more than 500 years ago.

A horse burial ground

CA covered the original excavation back in issue 162 (April/May 1999), when Robert Cowie gave an account of the MoLAS investigations of two adjacent locations on Elverton Street in Westminster. At the time of the team’s initial evaluation in 1994, and when the site was excavated more fully in 1996, this was a typically built-up area of London’s urban landscape, subject to archaeological scrutiny only because it was set to be redeveloped. Until the 18th century, however, this had been marginal, marshy land – flat and flood-prone, made up of low-lying sand and gravel islands called eyots surrounded by a sea of stream-cut mudflats. Few people called this watery environment home, but they did turn out their livestock to graze on its dryer parts, which were also used to stage markets and fairs, tournaments and banquets, and to punish witches. These activities are all recorded in contemporary documents, but one of the area’s low sandbanks – better-drained and easier to dig than the surrounding beds of thick clay – had been selected for a more specific purpose that was only revealed during MoLAS’ excavations. Its surface was scattered with pits that had been used for the burial of dozens of horses.

Of the 197 pits identified, 31 contained articulated horse bones. These were not complete skeletons, but portions of animals that had been carefully cut up before burial, and each hole contained the partial remains of up to eight animals (for example, one held vertebrae from four different horses, hind legs from five, and forelimbs from seven), representing an estimated 76 horses in total. Another 21 pits produced a handful of disarticulated animal bones, while four more were found to contain complete dog skeletons.

The remaining pits appeared to be empty, though it is probable that at least some of them had once contained remains that have been dissolved by the acidic local sand. These conditions also meant that many of the surviving bones were in a poor condition, ranging from mostly intact with surface damage to having been reduced to a spongy state or even to a ‘sawdust-like residue’, the team report in a paper published in the Archaeological Journal in 1998 (see ‘Further reading’).

What was this unique site for? The burial ground was strikingly well organised, with its pits arranged in neat rows and distinct clusters that, although closely packed, showed very little sign of intercutting. It was notable, too, that pits within specific groups were often similar in shape and size, suggesting that they may have been created and used at the same time – as did the fact that, in some cases, pieces of the same carcass had been split across multiple holes.

The full extent of the burial ground is still unknown, but it very likely stretched beyond the bounds of the Elverton Street excavations. In 1980-1981, workmen digging a lift pit in the basement of a building on Maunsel Street, just to the south-east, are known to have discovered animal bones that had also been buried in sand, and at a similar depth to MoLAS’ subsequent finds. Unfortunately, most had been discarded by the time of the Elverton Street excavations, but two bones had been retained, and proved to be from large adult horses. Given the distribution of all these finds, Robert Cowie suggested that the burials covered, at a conservative estimate, at least 60m by 30m (1,800m2), an area capable of accommodating some 800 pits and potentially hundreds or even thousands of animals.

As for when the site was in use, a crucial clue came from the only two artefacts that could be directly linked to the burials: two horseshoes of a type that was common during the mid-14th to 16th centuries. One was complete, with eight holes and the remains of nails still visible, while the other only survived as a broken half; there was a small scrap of iron as well, which could represent a third example but, the excavation team note in their report, this was too corroded to identify conclusively.

While this kind of horseshoe remained in fashion for a long time, radiocarbon dating of some of the horse bones was able to narrow the site’s likely lifespan further. Two samples analysed during the 1990s investigations yielded results of AD 1415-1450 and 1476-1636 (though we can reduce the end of this second range, as the site was extensively quarried for sand around 1600, and the sequence of strata shows this activity occurred after use of the burial ground had ended). Ten more dates produced by the University of Exeter’s current research have added to this picture, with results spanning calAD 1425-1517 at 95% probability: squarely within the late medieval and early Tudor periods. As many of the pits remain undated, though, the window of burial could be wider. Why, then, were so many horses being buried on this site – and what can we learn about the animals themselves?

Equine insights

During the 1996 excavation, ‘empty’ pits were half-sectioned and any containing animal remains were hand-excavated in full. The bones were vertically photographed in situ, and every articulated portion was numbered and re-photographed to log its position before being lifted and bagged so that the team could compare whole body parts rather than individual bones. The remains were then carefully cleaned, measured, weighed, and examined by Museum of London zoologist Alan Pipe for any surface marks that might represent butchery or pathology. Each animal’s age was based on their teeth, and sex on the shape of their pelvis. The entire assemblage has now been reassessed by the University of Exeter team, and the combined data from both analyses gives us fascinating glimpses of the lives of these animals before they were laid to rest in the Westminster marshland.

All of the Elverton horses were adults, with some having survived past the age of 16 or even 20. These had been hard-working animals, as attested by the fused bones in their lower limbs and lower back, characteristic of repeated weight-bearing activity, probably due to the affected animals having been ridden frequently. Four of the horses had clear evidence of bit-wear on their teeth, too. There was no sign, however, that these animals had been slaughtered at the end of their useful lives – given their range of ages, it is possible that the horses had died of natural causes. A few of the bones had light cut marks, suggesting that some of the animals may have been skinned after their death, but there were no obvious butchery marks indicating that their meat had been removed.

Advances in archaeological science since the 1990s mean that we can now understand much more about the horses beyond their physical traits, however. Their tooth enamel contains chemical clues revealing where they lived at different periods of their life, and University of Exeter scientists have carried out isotope analysis of samples taken from 22 teeth, representing 15 of the horses from the site. Strontium isotopes revealed the distinctive geologies on which the animals had grazed while specific teeth were forming, and oxygen isotopes reflected the make-up of the rainwater that they had been drinking. The results are intriguing: while the horses in this study represent just a portion of the animals that had been buried at Elverton Street, they form a strikingly diverse group.

We can now tell that as many as 12 of the 15 horses may not have been local to London, only arriving in the city at the age of 3.5-4 years old or later. Moreover, five (potentially seven) had been born outside Britain altogether. The horses span a broad range of ages – two were under 6 years old when they died, five were 6-10, four were 10-15, and four over 16 – and closer scrutiny of the isotope analysis has allowed the researchers to reconstruct detailed snapshots from the lives of individual animals.

Looking historical horses in the mouth

Beginning with some of the local animals, Horse 1 is a male with strontium and oxygen levels within range of being born in or near London, but he did not remain in the city for his whole life. Instead, he appears to have been mobile within the wider London area or southern England between the ages of 2.5 and 4.5. Horse 2 (also male) is another probable Londoner, though by contrast he appears to have been kept in the same stable/paddock until around the age of 3.5, after which strontium values indicate he was moved to somewhere with different geology, followed by regular journeys between chemically distinct regions. Meanwhile, Horse 8 is an elderly female aged over 20, who was also potentially from London and seems to have remained in the same location for the first 4-5 years of her life, perhaps as a stabled horse or a breeding mare based on a stud farm.

Horses 3, 5, 6 (all male), and 10 (female) present a more complex picture. Their strontium values reflect geologies found in the UK and abroad, though Horse 6 and Horse 10 have low oxygen ranges for Britain. The researchers suggest that these animals are plausibly of non-London British origins, though them being brought from abroad cannot be ruled out.

Clearer indications of international origins come from Horses 7 and 16 – both males, whose low oxygen levels suggest they were drinking rainwater in a much cooler place than Britain. Compatible climates include south-western Norway, the Alps, the Bohemian Massif uplands, and the Carpathians. Strontium values for Horse 7 also indicate a very mobile life, making a number of long journeys across very different lithologies until he reached London.

Other potentially imported animals are Horses 11 (male), 12 and 15 (both female): they have strontium values compatible with Britain, but only very specific and narrow areas – the granite lithologies of the Cairngorms and parts of Devon and Cornwall. When combined with oxygen values, it is more likely that they come from Continental Europe: specifically southern Sweden, Lithuania, the Pyrenees, the western or central Alps, the south-western Bohemian Massif, or the Carpathians. These horses were found in different pits, but it is possible that they all came from the same region, or even from the same breeder.

Horse 13’s strontium values are compatible with north-east Dartmoor, but her oxygen values rule out south-west Britain as her place of origin. Instead, this horse is thought to have come from southern Sweden, southern Finland, or the western Alps. It appears that she was stabled in the same location for the first 6-18 months of her life, becoming more mobile from the age of 2-3. Meanwhile, Horse 14 (male) came from a relatively warm and wet climate compared to the other animals in the set, and his strontium values strongly point to repeated journeys, between the age of 9 months and 3 years, around the chalklands of south-eastern England and potentially into London. Finally, Horse 4 is very unlikely to have grown up in Britain, but comes instead from a much colder climate, with strontium values unique to the group. He appears to have been stabled in one place until the age of 3.5 and then travelled extensively across many chemically distinct geologies.

Elite animals?

Taken together, these results offer an illuminating picture of animal mobility, far-reaching trade networks, and the wide range of locations that horses were being sourced from in late medieval and Tudor England. Notably, these equine imports included both male and female horses, and mares appear to have been brought to Britain both as breeding stock and for riding or other working roles (as evidenced by the bit-wear on female Horse 10’s teeth).

Analysis of the group’s bones indicates that these were stocky, robust animals, standing between 12 and 15.3 hands high – small by modern standards, comparable to modern Welsh cobs or Dales ponies, but very impressive to contemporary observers. Indeed, they are notably bigger and more strongly built than other known horses of the period, and the assemblage actually includes three of the tallest horses ever recorded from medieval England.

The excavated area is bounded on its eastern side by a street called Horseferry Road: a reference to a raft that (from at least 1513) transported horses, carts, and carriages between Lambeth and Westminster, at a time when London Bridge was the city’s only road route across the Thames. Lambeth was home to the archiepiscopal palace, while Westminster was the domain of the royal court, and although the Elverton Street site lies 500m from this historic core, in the medieval period its lands were owned by Westminster Abbey. Given the unusual stature of the horses buried on this site, and the fact that they had been drawn from across Europe, might they be connected to such elevated society?

Lavish jousts were a well-documented feature of the Tudor court, and the Elverton Street area (then called Tothill Fields) was sometimes used to stage tournaments. Might the site’s imposing animals have featured in such events? Notably, the teeth of Horse 5 showed a distinctive wear pattern from heavy use of a curb bit – a piece of equestrian kit particularly associated with animals ridden in battle and during tournaments. Based on all of the above, the University of Exeter team conclude, the Elverton Street horses may have been elite animals used in elite entertainments, evidently carefully sourced at great effort and great expense. That some horses were prized in this way is well attested in documents of the period – but this analysis now adds illuminating physical evidence to help flesh out the written sources.

Further reading:
• Alexander J E Pryor et al. (2024) ‘Isotopic biographies reveal horse rearing and trading networks in medieval London’, Science Advances 10 (12), www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adj5782.
• R Cowie, A Pipe, J Clark, and J Pearce (1998) ‘A late medieval and Tudor horse burial ground: excavations at Elverton Street, Westminster’, Archaeological Journal 155: 226-251.
• To read more about ‘Warhorse: the archaeology of a medieval revolution?’, see https://medievalwarhorse.exeter.ac.uk; a book documenting the entire project will be published in 2025.

Acknowledgements: Grateful thanks to Robert Cowie, who truly went above and beyond to make sure we had enough excavation photos for this article.