Richard III dig team on the trail of city’s ancient secrets
ARCHAEOLOGISTS behind the discovery of Richard III hope to reveal more about Leicester’s history in a major excavation at Leicester Cathedral.
The work could help uncover secrets of life in the city from the past 1,000 years.
By carefully digging up to two metres below ground, experts hope to track the history of the area around the cathedral from the Victorian period through Saxon Medieval and Roman times and perhaps back to the early Iron Age settlement.
The team behind the excavation, from the University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS), were responsible for discovering the remains of Richard III in a car park in 2012 - just a stone’s throw from the cathedral site.
Project officer at ULAS, Mathew Morris, said the dig, which has just resumed, is an opportunity to “investigate the story of Leicester”.
He said: “This is in an area which we rarely get to excavate, and it’s going to be the first time which we have excavated a continuous cemetery sequence dating from the late Saxon period to the relatively recent past, giving us a fantastic opportunity to investigate the story of Leicester through the lives of the people who lived and were buried here.
“The excavation is also going to give us the chance to explore the origins of the cathedral site, including the foundation of the original church and aspects of the Roman town which predated it.”
The team began initial investigations on the site of the Old Song School, at the eastern end of Leicester Cathedral, last year, ahead of the development of a new heritage and learning space.
The area was once used as the churchyard for burials of people from all walks of life living in the surrounding the former parish.
More than 120 burials were uncovered in the top layers on the site and records helped to put together fragments of family histories in the city. It is believed there could be hundreds more burials which experts will painstakingly excavate by hand.
Samples will then be tested by university experts. Once the project is completed the individuals who have been studied will be reburied by Leicester Cathedral.
This work is a “key” part of the wider Leicester Cathedral Revealed project which was awarded a £4.5 million grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Dean of Leicester, the Very Rev David Monteith, said: “Leicester Cathedral is pleased to be working with ULAS again on the archaeological excavation work for our Leicester Cathedral Revealed project that will renew the cathedral so it can be its very best as a place of worship, heritage, pilgrimage, hospitality, learning, sanctuary and celebration.
“The archaeological excavations are a key element of the repair and restoration works to the existing cathedral building and the construction of a new visitor and learning centre, The Chapter House – a striking extension to the cathedral on the footprint of the Old Song School.
“The Chapter House will provide an exhibition gallery with immersive interpretation, a flexible learning space for school children and community groups, facilities for volunteers and WCs.”
John Thomas, deputy director of ULAS, said: “The opportunity to examine a cross section of past Leicester residents is tremendously exciting and the timing of this excavation, with the 10-year anniversary of the discovery of Richard, couldn’t be more fitting.
“Collaborative work at the university and beyond revealed much about the life of Richard III and we hope to use comparable techniques to gain similar insights into those less historically visible.”
The university will mark the 10 years since the discovery of the remains of Richard III in a car park later this year. He was King of England from 1483 until his death in 1485 in the Battle of Bosworth Field.
The University of Leicester identified the skeleton found in the excavation as that of Richard III and his remains were reinterred in Leicester Cathedral in 2015.