This papal bulla was found during the excavation of St Peter’s church (the site today lies beneath the John Lewis store in Leicester’s Highcross shopping centre). It would originally have been attached by a cord to the bottom of a letter or charter issued by Pope Innocent VI (1352-1362) to authenticate it. In this case,…
Tag: Leicester
New film footage reveals discovery of ‘killer blow’ to King Richard III
Previously unseen film footage released by the University of Leicester reveals for the first time details of the potential killer blow that claimed the life of King Richard III. The sequence – showing the dramatic injury to the base of the skull as well as the inside of the top of the skull – was…
FIND SPOTLIGHT: The art of medieval ice skating
With the recent cold spell in mind, let us first look at winter pastimes in medieval Leicester. These are perhaps best illustrated by the discovery of a late 13th century bone ice-skate in the town’s north-eastern quarter, near the site of St Michael’s church (today located beneath the John Lewis multi-story car park on Vaughan…
Free online course provides insights into Richard III reinterment
The third run of the free popular ‘England in the Time of King Richard III’ online course will be launching on Monday 16 February – and will offer a fascinating insight into life during 15th century England in the build up to the reinterment of Richard III on Thursday 26 March. The course, which is…
Archaeologists return to Roman mosaic site
In Autumn 2014, ULAS archaeologists returned to a site in Leicester, that they first investigated in 2012, to carry out a second phase of work. The site is on the corner of Highcross Street and Vaughan Way, between All Saints’ Church and the John Lewis multistory car-park. In 2012, archaeologists excavated seven trenches in order…
King Richard III Identity: CASE CLOSED AFTER 529 YEARS!
An international research team led by Dr Turi King from the University of Leicester Department of Genetics has published overwhelming evidence that the skeleton discovered under a car park in Leicester indeed represents the remains of King Richard III, thereby closing what is probably the oldest forensic case solved to date. The team of researchers,…
Latest volume of Transactions published
The latest volume of the Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society (vol. 88, 2014) has been published. This year’s volume includes a new article co-authored by John Morison and ULAS’s Vicki Score on ‘The Lost Chapel of St Morrell, Hathern’ (Previously reported on by ULASNEWS). John Thomas has compiled the latest ‘Archaeology in…
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…
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…
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