Oysters In London's Thames River

One of the challenges of restoring oysters to Massachusetts estuaries is that in many cases they have been gone so long that people's baseline memories don't include oysters, so they do not notice they are missing.  this situation is not just the case here, but in other cities as well.

London, England once had oysters in the Thames River.  When you see the crowded, narrowed channel today, this seems incredible, but they were once there. The Romans used to eat them when they ruled the region.



Remnants of Crofton Roman Villa

Here is a link to a story about an archaeological dig at Crofton Roman Villa near London's Orpington Station. The 20 room villa was occupied from the years 140 to 400. It was quite sophisticated with a form of central heating. Among the objects they have found are extensive amounts of oyster shell.