Digging for Britain: Leicester archaeology projects to feature on BBC

Projects led by Leicester archaeologists are to be showcased on the new series of BBC Two’s primetime TV series Digging for Britain in the New Year. Three University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS) projects from across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland are to feature on the latest series, presented by Professor Alice Roberts. The major discovery…

Castle Hill Field School – Week 1 update

Welcome to the first blog update from the 2021 Castle Hill field school. Project director Mathew Morris reports: We have now been digging for six days, the 1st year archaeology students have finished their first week, we have welcomed 26 young archaeologists from the Leicestershire Young Archaeologists’ Club to site for a day’s digging and…

Castle Hill Community Dig Blog 4: Season 2 is about to start!

Well, a year has come and gone and it is September again which means Season 2 of our Castle Hill Community Dig is about to start! Last year was a huge success. The medieval archaeology proved to be far better preserved than anyone imagined. We dug three trenches, investigating the outer bank and ditch of…

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…