AMERICA SQUARE

   On the south side of John Street, Minories. In Portsoken Ward (P.O. Directory).

   First mention: Horwood, 1799.

   A brew house stood on the site in 1746 and 1763 in Rocque's maps. The Square must have been erected between 1761 and 1774, as a letter written to Lord Dartmouth in August, 1774, is dated from this square (H. MSS. Com. 14, Rep. 223).

   Behind the south-west corner of America Square below the natural gravel was found a Roman wall, 7 ft. 6 in. thick, parallel to the line of the Minories (Arch. XL. 296). The base of the wall was at a depth of about 20 feet. Traces of the City Ditch have also been found here.