At http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/press/press-releases/2015/december/archaeol… ….
Archaeologists from University of Leicester Archaeological Services have unearthed remains from Roman and Medieval Leicester in two areas of the former bus depot that has been demolished in readiness for a new development. This is another example of salvage archaeology, the developer paying the cost of research and excavation prior to the new buildings going up. It is statutory and has kept archaeology alive during the cutbacks. For example, when the new HS2 rail line is built a host of small archaeological investigations will be taking place in order to record any archaeology that may be destroyed by the high speed rail system.
At first they came across plenty of evidence of medieval Leicester, some of which had been wrecked by the building of the bus depot in the 20th century. These are dated between the 12th to 16th centuries. The bonus was beneath the medieval town – remains of Roman Leicester. What they found basically was the junction of two streets, with aggers, gravel surface, and drainage ditches on either side – the classic Roman street. Alongside them were buildings as this was near the heart of Roman Leicester – in both stone and timber. Boundary walls have been found and coins and a host of other objects, including pieces of mosaic flooring (always gets the archaeologists excited for some reason) from the 2nd to the 4th centuries AD. The image below is of a nice piece of Samian Ware – or a piece of pottery that looks very much like Samian Ware.
