ULAS News

New community archaeology project in town associated with King Richard III receives funding

A new community archaeology project that provides residents the opportunity to carry out excavations in order to learn more about their town’s history has received funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). The Market Bosworth Society in partnership with the University of Leicester has been awarded a grant of £29,000 for their ‘Bosworth Links’ community…

Largest archaeological excavation in Leicester in over a decade to open to public

University of Leicester Archaeological Services are currently excavating the site of the former Stibbe factory, between Great Central Street and Highcross Street in central Leicester. The land is owned by Charles Street Buildings group, which has made the site available and financially supported the archaeological excavation ahead of a major planned development of the site….

New Roman mosaic uncovered in Leicester

Dig reveals exciting new evidence for Leicester’s Roman past. Archaeologists from ULAS are currently excavating a large site on the corner of Highcross Street and Vaughan Way, next to the John Lewis car park. The project, which has been running since November, is uncovering exciting new evidence for Leicester’s Roman past, including evidence for a…

Excavation of Roman Cemetery in Leicester up for Current Archaeology Award

For the second year running a project led by University of Leicester archaeologists has been nominated in the Current Archaeology Awards, this year in the category ‘Rescue Project of the Year’. The project, Buried between Road and River: Investigating a Roman cemetery in Leicester (reported on in Current Archaeology Issue 319), investigated part of a…

Castle Hill Community Dig Blog 3: What we know so far…

Well that’s it for this year. Excavation is complete, records are finalised, finds are washed (mostly), we’ve bid a sad farewell to our fantastic volunteers, packed everything up, backfilled the site and gone home. It has been a very productive second week. With the trenches cleaned up, the focus this week has been on recording…

Castle Hill Community Dig Blog 2: A successful first week…

The first thing to say is, we have archaeology, lots of archaeology. Last Thursday, in thick fog I supervised the digger machining open the three trenches that we will be investigating over the next couple of weeks. This is a tense moment. Before you break ground, you have no idea what you’re going to find…

Castle Hill Community Dig Blog 1: A bit of background

Hi everyone, welcome to the first blog for the Castle Hill Community Excavation. Over the next couple of weeks we will be posting updates here and on Facebook (www.facebook.com/ulasnews) to keep you up to date with what we are finding. First, a little bit about what we will be doing. What is happening? Leicester City…

New dig will explore story of Castle Hill

University of Leicester Archaeological Services will be working with Leicester City Council to explore an enigmatic monument in one of the city’s Country Parks. The ancient monument at the heart of Leicester’s Castle Hill Country Park is due to be investigated later this month as part of a community archaeological project. Leicester City Council and…

Injured soldiers work with ULAS staff in unique Cypriot archaeological project

UK Forces personnel, who have been injured mentally or physically on operations or in other circumstances, join university students and staff at ancient Roman harbour. A unique collaboration between archaeologists and injured Service personnel sees them pitted in a race against time to discover the secrets of an ancient Roman harbour in Cyprus before they…

Bronze Age barrow and Anglo-Saxon cemetery discovered at Rothley, Leicestershire

ULAS project investigates how different generations have re-used ancient sacred places. Archaeologists from the University of Leicester have recently excavated a Bronze Age barrow and Anglo-Saxon cemetery under former allotments at Rothley in Leicestershire. The project has offered a rare opportunity to investigate how different generations have re-used ancient sacred places, with Iron Age and…

Rare discovery of late Roman official buried in Leicester

Archaeologists from ULAS have recently excavated a late Roman cemetery at Western Road in Leicester’s West End. Amongst the eighty-three skeletons recorded by the team, one burial is proving to be very exciting. The simple grave in question had been dug into mudstone on the west bank of the River Soar, to the south-west of…

Free history day at Jewry Wall Museum this Sunday 10th July

This year’s Festival of Archaeology kicks off with an exciting free family friendly event at Jewry Wall Museum in Leicester called ‘Bringing Our Past To Life’ on Sunday July 10th (11am-4pm). The event draws on the tradition of popular events at the Museum in the late 1980’s and 90’s that are fondly remembered by many…