Bosworth Links is a community archaeology project established in 2016 by the Market Bosworth Society, and made possibly by funds from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The aim of the project is to involve residents of Market Bosworth and its surrounding communities in archaeological excavations (test pits) in the places they live in order to make new discoveries about the past history of the area. It is hoped that this will inspire and stimulate wider interest in the history of the region and contribute to ongoing academic research into the development of settlement, landscape, and demography in Britain.

The project is carried out by the Market Bosworth Society in collaboration with University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS), who provided technical and methodological advice and on-site training and supervision as well as specialist evaluation of the results which are reported back to the local community in a programme of outreach events.

Participation is open to everyone who lives in the local and wider community of Market Bosworth and its surrounding region. This includes excavating and/or finds processing and/or helping with project planning and organisation. No previous archaeological knowledge or experience is needed, with training provided within the project, and there are opportunities for both able-bodied and less able people of all ages to take part in a wide range of activities including digging into the ground, searching through excavated soil, finds washing and maintaining written records.

Market towns, such as Market Bosworth, are quintessential elements of the English countryside, providing an important hub for a community much wider than the town itself. In 2017-18, community-driven archaeological investigation in Market Bosworth itself proved highly successful, giving its residents a unique opportunity to explore their own past, make new discoveries about the development of their town and identify previously unknown archaeological sites dating back thousands of years to the Bronze Age. Subsequent excavations have investigated the villages of Carlton (2022), Coton (2023) and Cadeby (forthcoming).

This is only one part of a much bigger picture. In the East Midlands, important avenues of archaeological research include gaining better understanding of the role towns had as social, administrative, industrial and commercial centres within their regional marketing system. To do this, it is important to study surrounding settlements which possibly share an infinity with the market town.

A coherent community-driven archaeological study of a market town and its satellite settlements has never been carried out before and provides an important opportunity to investigate the nature and extent of the town’s influence on the surrounding countryside. For instance:

• In the medieval period did villages have a symbiotic relationship with their market town (i.e. did the fortunes of one influence the others)?
• Did manorial ownership affect relationships (some settlements shared the same tenants-in-chief, others did not)?
• The Black Death in the 14th century appears to have had a major effect on settlement in Market Bosworth, did it have a similar effect in the surrounding villages?
• Market Bosworth and some of the surrounding villages existed by the 11th century, and are mentioned in the Domesday Book, but others are not. When did these villages develop?
• Some villages, like Cadeby, have Viking name elements. What evidence, if any, is there for Scandinavian activity in these villages?
• Roman activity is known at Market Bosworth (a villa), Carlton (field systems) and Cadeby (pottery kilns), what evidence is there for Roman activity elsewhere?