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MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology)

MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology)

Company type	Archaeology and built heritage practice and independent charitable organisation
Predecessor	Department of Urban Archaeology (DUA), Department of Greater London Archaeology (DGLA), Museum of London Archaeology Service (MoLAS)
Founded	1973
Headquarters	London, Northampton, Basingstoke, Birmingham , United Kingdom
Key people	Janet Miller (CEO)
Number of employees	310 (2018)
Website	www.mola.org.uk

MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology), is an archaeology and built heritage practice and independent charitable company registered with the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA), providing a wide range of professional archaeological services to clients in London and across the country. It is one of the largest archaeological service providers in the UK, and is the only one with IRO (Independent Research Organisation) status.

MOLA’s operations were historically focused within Greater London but are increasingly nationwide. It employs over 300 staff across 4 locations: the central London headquarters, and further offices in Northampton, Basingstoke, and Birmingham.

MOLA is a registered charity (since 2011) with its own academic research strategy and extensive community engagement and education programmes including the Thames Discovery Programme, CITiZAN and the Time Truck.

Commercial services offered include expertise and advice at all stages of development from pre-planning onwards: management and consultancy advice, impact assessments, excavation, mitigation (urban, rural, infrastructure, and other schemes), standing building recording, surveying and geomatics, geoarchaeology, finds and environmental services, post-excavation and publication, graphics and photography, editing, and archiving.

Since 2017 MOLA has been part of a consortium with Headland Archaeology - MOLA Headland Infrastructure - to enable the delivery of archaeological and heritage services to large-scale infrastructure projects.

Background

MOLA is now entirely separate from the Museum of London; however it originated as departments within the Museum.

The Department of Urban Archaeology (DUA) was formed in 1973 as part of the Rescue archaeology movement, a response to the threat posed to unrecorded archaeological remains by increasing deep-basement office redevelopment in the City of London. Prior to this, recording remains prior to destruction was carried out by individuals and volunteers. Public reaction to the publication of The Future of London's Past  by archaeologist Martin Biddle helped to secure government funding for a small number of staff to found the DUA. The team was led by Brian Hobley and revolutionised the detailed understanding of London's archaeology and early history.

The Department of Greater London Archaeology (DGLA) was formed from several local archaeological societies in the 1980s and led by Harvey Sheldon to address similar concerns in other historical areas of the capital, particularly in Southwark and Inner North London.

The 1980s saw rapid development in the City of London, and an associated increase in archaeological work. The DUA and DGLA encouraged site developers to fund excavations prior to construction. As a result, both organisations grew rapidly, with each employing over 100 staff by the late 1980s. At the height of the construction boom in 1989, over 300 paid archaeologists were working on London sites. A sudden and severe downturn in the property cycle in 1990 put both the DUA and DGLA under great strain, with about half of the staff made redundant.

Changes in the legislation surrounding archaeological work were taking place at the same time. Up until 1990, archaeological units throughout England provided both curatorial advice and contractual services. This dual role was increasingly seen as carrying a potential conflict of interest, and after the controversial redevelopment of Shakespeare's Rose Theatre site in Southwark changes were made to the planning guidance (PPG 16).

Responsibility for curatorial advice was transferred to local authorities in the cases of the City of London and Southwark, and to Greater London Archaeology Advisory Service (GLAAS) in the case of the other Greater London boroughs. Meanwhile, the DUA and DGLA merged in 1991 to form MoLAS (Museum of London Archaeology Service) to provide services as an archaeological contractor. During the 1990s, MoLAS restructured and expanded its capabilities within the newly competitive market, rebranding as MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology).

In 2011, MOLA separated entirely from the Museum of London, becoming an independent charitable company. It became one of only a handful of non-academic institutions to hold IRO (Independent Research Organisation) status in 2014.

MOLA’s operations continue to expand nationwide, with subsidiary offices established in Birmingham in 2011, Northampton in 2014 (with the acquisition of Northamptonshire Archaeology to form a new company: MOLA Northampton), and Basingstoke in 2017.

Significant Contributions

To the archaeology of London:

MOLA has contributed considerably to understandings of London’s early development, excavating many notable sites across the capital. Major contributions have included:

• Roman London 47-410: Helping to reveal the complexity of Roman Londinium’s development and its many phases of settlement, growth, stagnation and destruction. Key finds and features excavated have included a bridge near Pudding Lane, amphitheatre at Guildhall Yard, the Eastern and Western cemeteries, a Fort near Barbican, and the Bloomberg tablets.
• Saxon London: Museum of London excavations at Fleet Street, Covent Garden, and Westminster under Alan Vince and Martin Biddle  revealed the location of the Middle Saxon settlement of Lundenwic at Aldwych, and details of the Late Saxon re-settlement of the Roman City under Alfred the Great (which came to be known as Lundenburgh).
• Plague and Fire: Royal Mint East Smithfield Black Death cemetery
• Elizabethan Playhouses: Rose, Globe, Curtain, The Theatre
• Monastic Houses: Priory of the Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem, Clerkenwell, St Mary Spital Charterhouse, St Mary’s Stratford Langthorne
• Crossrail Archaeology: Charterhouse Square Black Death skeletons aDNA; Tudor moated manor house in Stepney Green; Thames Iron Works Victorian ship builders, Crosse and Blackwell factory at Tottenham Court Road.

To British archaeology outside of London:

• Saxon princely burial at Prittlewell
• Monastic Houses: Augustinian priory of St Mary Merton, Surrey, St Saviour Bermondsey, Surrey, Holy Trinity Priory Essex

To archaeological techniques:

MOLA has played a key role in professionalising archaeology, setting standards of practice and driving innovations in technique. It played a significant role in recognising archaeological potential in London (for example, of  London’s well-preserved waterfront archaeology), and in developing and popularizing the use of technologies and techniques including single context recording, using GIS with the Oracle database, and the use of drones in geophysical recording.

To public understanding of archaeology:

• Thames Discovery Programme
• CITiZAN
• Time Truck
• Consulting on the reconstruction of the Temple of Mithras for the London Mithraeum

Publications and Outputs

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