ULAS News

Leicester Cathedral Revealed – Church walls and hints of Roman remains

Over the past couple of months, we have been on site at the Cathedral intermittently monitoring the construction of the piling wall and other footings for the new Heritage Learning Centre. This work has given us a tantalising preview of what might lie beneath the graveyard. Site director Mathew Morris provides a new update… The…

Chester House Estate Community Archaeology Taster Day

We would like to invite you to a community archaeology taster day at The Chester House Estate, Northamptonshire on Sunday 15th May 2022. A collaborative team including representatives from the School of Archaeology & Ancient History (SAAH) at the University of Leicester, The Chester House Estate, University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS), Museum of London…

Leicester Cathedral Revealed – It’s the coffin they’ll carry you off in

Time for another update from Leicester Cathedral Revealed. At present we are waiting to resume our excavation at Leicester Cathedral. Work hasn’t stopped, however, and over the past couple of months we’ve been on site as needed monitoring groundwork for the installation of the piling wall for the new Heritage Learning Centre. Work is also…

Mud and painted nails: An archaeologist’s story

International Women’s Day has been celebrated on 8th March for more than a century. The theme for 2022 is #BreaktheBias. The day celebrates women’s achievement, raises awareness against bias and takes action for equality. For our post this year, ULAS Archaeological Assistant Isobel Moss tells us about what inspired her to become an archaeologist and…

In memoriam – Deborah Sawday (1944-2021)

Last November we sadly reported the passing of Deborah Sawday, our medieval pottery specialist and part of the ULAS team since we began in 1995. Nicholas Cooper, ULAS post-excavation project manager remembers a friend and colleague who is greatly missed.

Leicester Cathedral Revealed – Anne Barratt (1786-1855)

Happy New Year everyone, and welcome back to our Leicester Cathedral Revealed updates. We have been back on site for a couple of weeks and we have now wrapped up Phase 1 of the excavation with a total of 124 burials excavated. Work has now moved back to construction and we will be back in…

Digging for Britain: Leicester archaeology projects to feature on BBC

Projects led by Leicester archaeologists are to be showcased on the new series of BBC Two’s primetime TV series Digging for Britain in the New Year. Three University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS) projects from across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland are to feature on the latest series, presented by Professor Alice Roberts. The major discovery…

Leicester Cathedral Revealed – One person’s rubbish is an archaeologist’s treasure!

Work to excavate the higher burials at Leicester Cathedral has now paused for Christmas, with the count currently at 87. We had hoped to have completed the excavation this year but there are at least a dozen more burials to lift and we will be back for a short time in the New Year to…

Leicester Cathedral Revealed – John Wilson Ottey (1810-1851)

In our next update from our excavation at Leicester Cathedral, Mathew Morris tells us more about the first burial the archaeological team have identified by name. Putting names to the dead when they are skeletal remains is very difficult. The burials that we have excavated so far are all late 18th and early 19th century…

Encounters with Achilles: The Discovery of the Rutland Roman Villa

The Covid 19 Lockdown in 2020 forced many people to stay close to home for their recreational activities and also to find new interests to pursue. For Jim Irvine a walk with his family on his father’s farmland was the start of a journey that led to the astounding discovery of an extensive Roman villa…

Extraordinary Roman mosaic and villa discovered beneath Rutland farmer’s field

Archaeologists have unearthed the first Roman mosaic of its kind in the UK. Today (Thursday 25th November 2021), a rare Roman mosaic and surrounding villa complex have been protected as a Scheduled Monument by DCMS on the advice of Historic England. The decision follows archaeological work undertaken by a team from University of Leicester Archaeological…

Leicester Cathedral Revealed – the 19th-century burial ground

ULAS archaeologists have now been on site at Leicester Cathedral for a month and today is a good time to start revealing what has been found so far. Mathew Morris, the archaeology team leader for the Heritage Learning Centre excavation tells us more… For my first project update I want to focus on the 19th-century…