Six multi-period archaeological sites investigated in advance of gravel extraction in the London Borough of Havering between 1963 and 1997 form the basis of a landscape history of the Rainham and Upminster area. Residual Mesolithic finds from the study area include an adze. The first significant activity locally was an Early Neolithic ring ditch, which remained in use for about a millennium. During the Bronze Age the area was transformed by extensive woodland clearance and the creation of rectilinear fields and scattered farmsteads. The Iron Age saw more intensive landscape utilisation and settlement. About the time of the Roman invasion two farmsteads were fortified. A waterhole from one of these farmsteads revealed a large pottery assemblage dating to c. AD 60-70, showing a low level of Romanisation and few imported wares. A number of farmsteads were continuously occupied throughout the Roman period until after c. AD 370. The presence of Early Saxon activity at some sites suggests either continuity of occupation or only a short period of abandonment. These scattered Saxon farmsteads were probably abandoned during the Late Saxon period, when the rural settlement pattern generally changed to nucleated villages. Significant medieval remains include a farmstead and a manorial enclosure.

Archaeological excavations at 12 Arthur Street in 2001-2 produced new evidence for the Roman riverfront development which constitutes an important addition to our knowledge of Roman London's foreshore, its waterfront, quays and buildings. This study brings to light new evidence for the Claudian waterfront and construction of the terracing along the natural slope of the riverbank. Post-Boudican and Hadrianic developments included the construction of two, more solid, timber quays built in c.AD 70-80/3 and subsequently AD 120 as tidal regression generally hastened the decline of the port. The remains of major buildings include a possible early bathhouse as well as 1st- to mid 3rd-century AD high-status buildings with hypocausts, paved floors, mosaics and painted wall plaster. One of these may be a part of a building previously recorded at the adjacent site of Suffolk House, where it was interpreted as a goldsmith's premises. Other buildings at Arthur Street are interpreted as high-status residential complexes or townhouses. Alongside the buildings was a large well containing the remarkably well-preserved elements of an elaborate rotary water-lifting device consisting of the wooden buckets and iron linking chain. Undertaken as part of a mitigation strategy, the excavations left many important Roman remains in situ for future generations of archaeologists to explore further.