Paddington Integrated Project (PIP), Paddington Station (Crossrail XSE10)

A programme of archaeological investigations were undertaken by Oxford Archaeology/Ramboll UK (OAR), in the vicinity of Paddington Station, City of Westminster, London W2. The intermittent watching brief works, which were carried out as part of the Paddington Integrated Project (PIP) Crossrail works, commenced in September 2010 and continued through to July 2012. Deposits of Brickearth were observed during the bulk excavation of the Triangle Site (east of Bishops Bridge). This geological deposit was seen overlaying an extensive (up to 2.5 m thick) sequence of gravels. These deposits were identified as Pleistocene river terrace deposits (Lynch Hill Gravels), which form part of the natural geology in this part of London. Several brick built structures and other remains associated with the Great Western Railway's Paddington Goods Yards and Paddington Station were recorded during the project, including sections of a cobbled roadway made up of granite setts, uncovered beneath the modern concrete slab at the Triangle Site and at the eastern end of the Upper London Street Deck Site. Other archaeological works included the monitoring of the demolition of the Milk Ramp, retaining walls and the removal of an extensive cobbled surface during utility trench works behind Platform 12. All of these remains were integral elements of the Paddington Station complex and part of what was an important component of the Great Western Railway and one of the earliest major railway termini to survive in Britain.