Interesting talk for society
SUTTON Bonington Local History Society. Peter Liddle is an Archaeologist with Leicester University and, for the last five summers, has been excavating various areas of Bradgate Park. This has resulted in a fascinating talk on what the excavations revealed.
Most people are aware that the house in Bradgate Park was the home of Lady Jane Grey, the ill fated “Nine Days Queen of England”, but the site has a history going back much further than the 16th century.
There is evidence that hunter/gatherers visited the site as long ago as 14000BP. They did not stay long as the climate deteriorated again before the final end of the last Ice Age and people stayed away for the next 2000 years.
The site as we now know it began to emerge circa 1240 when the deer park was established. This has had significant benefits for the archaeologist as most of the site has never been ploughed and buried artefacts have not been damaged. Another benefit is that being in the countryside as opposed to the city the interesting archaeology is just under the turf making for easier digging. Identifying interesting areas and thus where to dig has been significantly aided by Lidar, aircraft mounted lasers which produce a 3D like image of the ground surface regardless of the ground cover such as bracken and trees.
The Park was extended in the 14th century when the area around Old John was added. Incidentally Lidar revealed the presence of a private race track where the Earl of Stamford trained his horses, this circumnavigates Old John, the present building was probably used by the Earl as an observation post to see how is horses were performing.
The excavations revealed the foundations of an impressive range of stables, which also produced a staggering collection of clay pipes, jugs of clay and glass, some from as far away as Cologne and the location where the horse muck was probably stacked. Post holes suggest that there were stalls for about 25 horses.
The excavations within and around the site of the derelict house revealed the presence of another older house. It is not clear from the evidence available if Lady Jane lived in the brick house or the earlier stone house the foundations of which lie more or less within the confines of the existing remains.
The building as it stands at the present is not entirely original, during the 1930’s the site was cleaned up and some of the collapsed walls and one of the Towers rebuilt with original Tudor bricks but in a different bond.
The house itself was derelict by 1792, it fell in to ruins in as little as 40years, suggesting the roof had been removed for some reason, although a large gable end survived until a gale in 1895. The stables survived until the 1850’s.
This was a interesting talk, very well illustrated, and this short report does not do it justice.
The next talk is on March 11, when the subject will be ‘Mints of Nottingham and Derby’.
Andrew Knighton will give an illustrated outline of the history of minting coins in these two towns and the people responsible in the 200 years from the late Anglo Saxon period.
The talk starts at 7:30pm in the Methodist School Rooms, Main Street, Sutton Bonington. All welcome.