Temple Of Mithras

Temple of Mithras

A Roman temple dedicated to the worship of Mithras, constructed circa AD 240-250. The building is constructed of rubble stone walling of Kentish Ragstone with tile banking, ashlar quoins, column bases, door cill and jambs. The foundations and the first few courses above ground have been reconstructed using modern mortar.

The temple follows a rectangular aisled plan with a projecting apse at the north end and a single entrance to the south through a central doorway. Originally the apse formed the western end of the Mithraeum, but the reconstructed building differs in orientation and sits some 6 metres above and 75 metres to the north west of its original site. The reconstruction broadly represents the mid-third century form of the temple.

Externally, the rubble stone walling features ad hoc tile banding with tile and ashlar quoins. The projecting apse is externally supported by three solid buttresses.

Internally, raised side aisles are separated from the nave by sleeper walls which were originally surmounted by seven stone columns. The locations of these columns are indicated by stone bases, though these are not original. A raised dais at the north end would have held the cult statue and Tauroctonos (bull-slaying scene). A stone slab in the floor south of the dais is also not original. A stone-lined square well stands at the north end of the west aisle.

The Mithraeum was constructed in the mid-third century AD and continued in use until the late fourth century, though it had probably been converted to the worship of Bacchus from the early fourth century onwards. It survived as a standing ruin into the Anglo-Saxon period.

The temple was rediscovered and excavated by W F Grimes in 1952-1953 as a result of bomb damage clearance in preparation for redevelopment of the Bucklersbury House site. It was partially moved to its present location in 1962, where original fabric was used to form a reconstruction. Artefacts from the excavation, including high quality sculpture such as the head of Mithras, are now held by the Museum of London.

This is the only known Mithraeum from Roman London and one of only a handful discovered in Roman Britain. It was one of the most important and popular archaeological discoveries of the immediate post-war era, generating sufficient public interest that visitors queued to see the excavations. Its preservation was the subject of intensive media campaigns, resulting in its removal and reconstruction—one of the first examples of development-related archaeological conservation. The interest lies primarily in the Roman fabric rather than in the 1960s reconstruction.