Recent archaeological investigations by ULAS at Friar’s Mill site in Leicester uncover evidence of well-preserved Roman building beneath factory complex. Friar’s Mill, a disused mill complex on the banks of the River Soar, is currently undergoing a £6.3milllion redevelopment scheme to bring it back into use as a base for local businesses. The city council-led…
Category: Projects
Evidence of Ice Age hunter-gatherers excavated in Bradgate Park
New excavation in Bradgate Park, Leicestershire, saves flint artefacts from impact of erosion. After being hidden for nearly 15,000 years, the lives of Ice Age hunter-gatherers who migrated to Europe to benefit from warmer climes are being revealed in an archaeological dig at a very rare site in Bradgate Park, Leicestershire. The Bradgate Park Trust…
Archaeological fieldschool launched at Bradgate Park
Archaeologists set to unearth secrets from the Stone Age through to the Second World War at popular county attraction. The many mysteries of Leicestershire’s 850-acre deer park are set to be explored by archaeologists at the University of Leicester over the next five years with the launch of a fieldschool at Bradgate Park. The public…
Marston Trussell: life in a medieval village
Situated halfway between Market Harborough and Husbands Bosworth, on the Northamptonshire side of the River Welland, is the sleepy little village of Marston Trussell. The village is first mentioned in the Domesday Book (AD 1086) as Mersitone, meaning marsh settlement; the Trussell family presumably adding their name to the village after they became lords of…
Medieval hospital revealed in Leicester’s Cathedral Gardens
In 2013 and 2014 archaeologists from ULAS carried out a series of watching briefs during the construction of ‘Cathedral Gardens’ a new public open space located to the south and west of Leicester Cathedral. As part of this development, various ground-works were undertaken within both the graveyard of Leicester Cathedral and the St Martins House…
Iron Age settlement found near Brixworth in Northamptonshire
In 2014, archaeologists from ULAS investigated a 7 hectare area of agricultural land situated between the A508 and Pitsford Reservoir, just south of Brixworth in Northamptonshire. The evaluation was undertaken as part of an archaeological impact assessment in advance of proposed residential development. Work targeted previously identified geophysical anomalies and revealed an array of archaeological…
Archaeologists return to Pineham, Northamptonshire
In 2014, ULAS archaeologists returned to Pineham in Northamptonshire to carry out a second season of excavation. Now, with two seasons of fieldwork completed, the large-scale excavation has investigated a total of 12 hectares of land in advance of major residential development for Taylor Wimpey (East Midlands). The excavations have focused on two fields, targeting…
Secrets beneath Jubilee Square revealed
First published 13/04/2015, Updated 14/02/2024 In 2013 and 2014 archaeologists from ULAS carried out archaeological monitoring during construction of Leicester’s new Jubilee Square. The site, at St Nicholas Place, was at the historic heart of the Roman city and later medieval borough. In the Roman period much of the site was occupied by the southern…
‘Grant me the carving of my name’
What a week! Leicester rose to the occasion and reburied King Richard III with style; a perfect blend of solemnity and pageantry, mixing the old and the new with dignity and honour. I’m not one for writing a sentimental eulogy for the project that has dominated the last two and a half years of my…
The house that Herrick built
By now, the history of the Grey Friars and its role as the burial place of King Richard III is widely known, but what happened after the friary closed in 1538? Over the next 30 years the church was pulled down and the remaining buildings were left to gradually decay, providing a useful quarry of…
Timelapse offers unique insight into Richard III burial site dig
The University of Leicester has released a unique insight into the archaeological dig that has captured the imagination of the world, with new film footage of a second excavation at the site where the remains of King Richard III were discovered in 2012. The sequence – an 11 minute time-lapse video – documents the month-long…
Secrets of other Grey Friars skeletons revealed…
King Richard III was not the only person to be buried inside the Grey Friars church in Leicester. Over the course of the 2012 and 2013 excavations, archaeologists identified a further ten potential graves inside the chancel of the church including a mysterious stone sarcophagus found close to the site of Richard III’s hastily dug…
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