ULAS News

Life and Death on the Waterside

Over the last five years, ULAS has been busy investigating Leicester’s waterside, a large area of the historic city centre stretching 400m along the east bank of the River Soar and the Grand Union Canal from Bath Lane to Frog Island. A once busy area, characterised by manufacturing, it has suffered decline over the last…

Reburying Richard III: 5 years on

It seems like yesterday, but five years ago today (Sunday 15 March 2015) the first stage of King Richard III’s reburial, the coffining of his mortal remains, took place at the University of Leicester in preparation for his reburial at Leicester Cathedral two weeks later. Mathew Morris, Project Officer at ULAS and excavation director for…

International Women’s Day 2020

International Women’s Day is held every year on the 8th March, but did you know that this isn’t a recent event and that IWD is actually over 100 years old! This year the theme for IWD is #EqualforEach. To participate, people are invited to celebrate the achievements of women. So this year to celebrate, ULAS…

Dig Oakham Castle 2: Week 1 update

“It’s been a wet week” is perhaps an understatement for the first seven days of excavation at Oakham Castle but fortunately favourable ground conditions and the dedication of our volunteers mean we have lost less than half a day of digging time and half way into the dig we are making some exciting discoveries. The…

Dig Oakham Castle 2!

Archaeologists return to explore more of Oakham Castle’s hidden history. We’re back! Over the next two weeks (12th – 23rd June) we will again be digging in the inner bailey at Oakham Castle in Rutland. Our community project, commissioned by Rutland County Council and funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund as part of the…

The Charterhouse Project: Some final discoveries

Work at Charterhouse is finished for now and analysis of the results is underway. The large quantities of artefacts we recovered are being cleaned and examined by experts at the University of Leicester and the results from the trenches are being investigated. The excavation has shed light on the functioning of the Carthusian monastery and…

Festival of Archaeology 2019

Festival of Leicestershire and Rutland Archaeology 2019 programme of events announced! Saturday 29th June – Sunday 28th July, 2019 The programme for the 2019 Festival of Leicestershire and Rutland Archaeology – the biggest Festival of its kind in Britain- has been announced. Throughout the four weeks of July more than 90 events will be held…

Unique Iron Age shield found by Leicester archaeologists

The 2,300-year-old bark shield is the only one of its kind ever found in Europe A unique bark shield from the Iron Age has been discovered by archaeologists from the University of Leicester, the only one of its kind ever found in Europe. The shield, which measured 670 x 370mm in the ground, was found…

The Charterhouse Project: The dig so far…

We are halfway through our dig at the Coventry Charterhouse, and despite some rather difficult weather conditions, fascinating new insights into this Carthusian monastery are being revealed. Excavation supervisor Richard Huxley tells us what the dig has revealed so far… The Carthusian Order, also called the Order of St Bruno, was founded in the Chartreuse…

The Charterhouse Project: An Introduction

In March 2019, a team of archaeologists from University of Leicester Archaeological Services began a project to learn more about Coventry’s Cathusian Monastery, St Anne’s Charterhouse. The work is in partnership with the Historic Coventry Trust, Coventry City Council and Historic England, and is made possible with the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Excavation supervisor Richard…

Roman and medieval discoveries: Waterside, Leicester

A major excavation in north-west Leicester features in the Leicester Mercury, with a video and interviews with some of the team working on the site. The Waterside Project has revealed fresh discoveries into the city’s Roman and medieval past on land to the west of the city centre bordering the River Soar.

Digging for Britain

A University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS) excavation, will feature on BBC4’s Digging for Britain on Wednesday 19 December at 9.00pm. Over the winter of 2013 and 2014, ULAS excavated an archaeological site at Glenfield Park, Leicester. As well as being an important site locally and nationally, the discovery of a large amount of metalwork, including 11…