This is what you can see today of the Tudor Palace of Placentia on the riverfront in Greenwich. Erosion over the past five years, which has seen the shore drop 50cm, has revealed one of the largest archaeological features on the river foreshore anywhere in London. Among bricks and bones, oyster shells and roof tiles, Tudor pins and clay pipes, the remains of the Tudor jetty and quay have been revealed. From in front of the west wing of the Royal Naval College, now the Trinity Laban Conservetoire (top left), it runs down into the water, its extremity submerged even at low tide. This is where royalty, from Henry VII to Charles I, stepped ashore, while beneath the embankment wall (bottom left) is a row of upright timbers half a metre high, and once infilled with chalk to create a quay that was apparently accessible in any tide. A mooring ring is embedded in one of the timbers (top right) and there is a section of collapsed brick wall (bottom right).
Lying on the outer edge of the great meander round the Isle of Dogs, the shore here is susceptible to erosion, which in recent years is thought in part to have been caused by the wash of the speedy Thames Clippers. Now, to protect the embankment from further erosion, the shore is to be covered with stones and sand, perhaps making a new beach.
Anyone who wants to see the Tudor timbers should get down there soon.
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