ULAS News

Evidence of medieval iron production found at Irchester, Northamptonshire

A recent investigation of three fields east of Irchester in Northamptonshire has uncovered tantalising glimpses of a lost medieval iron smelting industry in the village. The work was undertaken by ULAS for the landowner in order to assess the likely impact of a proposed housing development on any underlying archaeology. Of the twenty-five trenches excavated,…

Recording Leicester’s hidden medieval heritage

Medieval is probably not a word often conjured up by people if asked to describe Leicester today; Victorian, perhaps Georgian, will be more commonly used but hidden behind the 18th and 19th century shop fronts little known fragments of the medieval town still survive. In 2012, ULAS carried out an historic building assessment of No….

Fifteenth century religious precinct wall discovered in Leicester

A small excavation carried out by ULAS has recently recorded a 15m long section of the medieval Newarke Wall, a 15th-century precinct wall surrounding the Newarke, a religious close containing a college of canons and a hospital which was once situated immediately south of the medieval town. The work was carried out for De Montfort…

Treasures in the Kitchen: Archaeological investigation of Reynard’s Kitchen, Dovedale, Derbyshire

Working with the National Trust and the Defence Archaeology Group’s Operation Nightingale, archaeologists from ULAS have recently undertaken an archaeological excavation at Reynard’s Kitchen, Dovedale, Derbyshire. The programme of controlled excavation work took place within a small cave set into the Dovedale gorge walls following the chance find of four Iron Age and Roman Republican…

Rare decorated Iron Age chariot fittings found at Burrough Hill hillfort

University of Leicester archaeologists have made a ‘once-in-a-career’ discovery of the decorated bronze remains of an Iron Age chariot. A team from ULAS and the University’s School of Archaeology and Ancient History has unearthed a hoard of rare bronze fittings from a 2nd or 3rd century BC chariot which appears to have been buried as…

Exploring the ponds of Grace Dieu Priory, Leicestershire

This summer, ULAS carried out a small archaeological investigation of a large earthwork bank, part of a medieval/post-medieval fishpond, next to the ruins of Grace Dieu Priory in north-west Leicestershire. This was to try and explain why water is being lost from the pond so that the Friends of Grace Dieu Priory can implement repairs…

Iron Age and Roman occupation unearthed at the new Stamford AFC Stadium

Last year, ULAS undertook an archaeological excavation at the proposed new Stamford AFC stadium at Ryhall Road, north of Stamford, Lincolnshire. The work was commissioned by the Burghley House Preservation Trust with R G Carter as the main site contractor. Features discovered date to the late Iron Age and early Roman period. Two large boundary…

ULAS archaeologists honoured

This week, ULAS co-directors Dr Richard Buckley and Dr Patrick Clay have been made Honoured Citizens of Leicester for their decades of dedicated work recording and promoting the city’s rich archaeological heritage. For more than 30 years (not 30 decades as some reported, although we like the idea that they have some insider knowledge of…

Iron Age settlement excavated near Lutterworth

During the autumn of 2013 ULAS carried out an archaeological excavation on land at Leaders Farm, on the south-western edge of Lutterworth in Leicestershire, for Bellway Homes (East Midlands) Ltd. prior to construction of a new residential development to be known as Whittle Fields. An evaluation carried out by ULAS in 2012 identified two areas containing…

Burrough Hill 2014

After five years, this summer saw the final season of excavations at Burrough Hill. John Thomas reports: this year, the Project aimed to tie up a few niggling questions that have developed over the years and have another look at the external settlement, previously looked at in 2011. Trench 10 was located in the centre…

‘Bloody will be thine end’ – Perimortem trauma in King Richard III

Today the fifth peer-reviewed paper on Richard III is published in The Lancet, providing a blow-by-blow account of the injuries inflicted on King Richard III’s body at the Battle of Bosworth Field on August 22, 1485. The remains of King Richard III—the last English monarch to die in battle—were found under a car park in…

Hallaton’s Lost Chapel

ULAS archaeologists have been working with local volunteers to uncover the lost chapel of St Morrell overlooking the small village of Hallaton in east Leicestershire. The Fourth year of excavations with the Hallaton Fieldwork Group (HFWG) has revealed the full plan of the chapel as well as the cemetery and evidence that the hillside has…