Archjeology in Leicestershire and Rutland 1960-61
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
ARCHJEOLOGY IN LEICESTERSHIRE AND RUTLAND 1960-61 Report from the Department of Antiquities, Leicester Museums (Year ended 30 March 1961. This report does not include casual finds, which are recorded in the Annual Report of the Museum. Thanks are due to contributors whose names are placed at the end of their contributions, and especially to the Assistant Keeper, Mr. J. A. Daniell.) LEICESTER BLACKFRIARS Excavations were carried out on two sites between Blackfriars Street, Orton Street and Welles Street. It was hoped to find some evidence for buildings associated with the Blackfriars pavement and a wide trench was cut by machinery as near as possible to the railway viaduct, but the ground had been so much disturbed that only small fragments of walling and a few square feet of a cement floor were discovered. Attention was then turned to the second area at the comer of Welles Street where substantial foundations were located in the road at the end of the last century. Three massive fragments of wall were revealed, the central unit of which seemed to be an insertion. They were not part of a building, and their function remains uncertain. This wall cut through a plaster floor with postholes along one side and at the north end of the trench a gravel layer containing a coin of Nero in good condition overlaid a floor with coarse pottery and a Coritanian coin. This therefore must belong to the period immediately before or just after the Roman conquest. The mechanical excavator was then taken up to the junction of Sarah St. and All Saints Rd. where foundations of a Roman building had been found under Messrs. Kitson's new factory on the N. side. It was felt that if there was a town wall here it must lie between these walls (which lay 7 ft. deep) and the river. Three trenches were therefore cut, one parallel to the river, and the other two at right angles to it. At 13 ft. these trenches filled with water and no structures of any kind were discovered. However a wooden stylus, a bone comb, a bone pin and a Tudor shoe sole were extracted from the mud. The Department is grateful to British Railways, Messrs. Russell, Messrs. Harding, Messrs. Kitson and Messrs. Piggot for their kind co-operation in these projects, and a full report on the Welles St. site is in preparation. MILLSTONE LANE The Nag's Head Inn. This, the successor to the handsome structure formerly at the comer of Guildhall Lane, had retained much of its 19th-cent. character, almost the last to do so in Leicester. It has been demolished and rebuilt on hygienic lines. The great jug, dated 1824 and reputed to hold 19½ pints, was presented to the Museum. (Mus. No. 368.1960) THE NEWARKE During work for the construction of the new College of Art the foundations of the Newarke wall were discovered slightly behind the building line of the slum cottages fronting on Mill Lane. It was about 3 ft. thick. Students of the college dug about it and found a bronze medieval lock. No other foundations were noted during this work. (Leic. Mus. No. 179.1961) ARCH£0LOGY IN LEICESTERSHIRE AND RUTLAND NEW BOND STREET Demolition of Nos. 8 and 10 revealed that the roof beam of one of the houses was a timber pipe 15 ft. 10 in. long tapering at one end and with a socket at the other. It had a 5 in. bore and an iron collar, with a total diameter of 10½ in. The date 1819 was found on another beam,· and it seems possible that this pipe is part of the 17th-cent. water supply. (Photos. and sketch in Leic. Mus.) RUDING STREET Messrs. Russell's new foundry. Excavations revealed a hard gravel surface in each stanchion hole running in a straight line N .-S. from the rear of the Mechanic's Tavern to Ruding St. and extending for about 80 ft. At the N. end this surface was encountered at about 9 ft. below the surface and at the S. end it was about 12 ft. This looks like a Roman road. (Notes and plan in Leic. Mus.) ST. MARY DE CASTRO The removal of the organ has completely exposed the incised alabaster slabs recorded in F . A. Greenhill's Incised Slabs of Leics. and Rutland, pp. 103-4, Nos. I and IV. No. IV was in tvxo pieces and has been lifted for eventual resetting. The tombstone of Susannah Watts, author of A Walk Through Leicester (1804), has been moved from its place near the road leading through the Castle gateway and re-erected in the churchyard to the S. 38 SOUTHGATE STREET The Society has made efforts to preserve this house, which would project a mere 3 ft. into the 15 ft. pavement of the new ring road and hence is to be destroyed. The brick front dates from the first quarter of the 18th cent., but the main structure is a timber building of the 15th cent. at latest. As such it is one of the oldest houses remaining in Leicester. Our member Alderman C. R. Keene kindly took the matter up but was unable to secure its reprieve. A report was also supplied to the owner for his appeal. STOUGHTON DRIVE SOUTH At Greenhays a silver denarius of Hadrian was dug up in the garden (Mattingly and Sydenham, No. 127, 119-122 A.D.). WEST BRIDGE The Sailor's Return, an inn on the N. side of the road, was demolished and produced much Roman pottery. The foreman said that while digging for footings parallel to the railway viaduct they came upon a gravel pavement 4 ft. below the surface at the N. end of the site. As their trench followed it along it undulated and got deeper, until at the S. end it was 9 ft. down. It was "hard as concrete" all the way. He was certain it was not part of the railway works. (Pottery Leic. Mus. No. 273.1961) LEICESTERSHIRE A list of Royal arms in Leicestershire churches has begun to appear in Trans. Vaughan Arch. and Hist. Soc., compiled by Mr. T . B. Davis. The author has kindly promised a complete copy in due course, which we shall hope to print. ANSTEY. 546086 In Oct. 1960 a derelict building adjoining the E. side of the Crown Inn, Bradgate Rd. was demolished. A single cruck truss was exposed. The timbers were very massive and the curious curved collar was an unusual feature. It was impossible to obtain measurements. The lower part of the structure had been encased in brickwork which may date from the latter part of the 17th cent. (Photo. and brick in Leic. Mus.) 66 LEICESTERSHIRE ARCH.IEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY APPLEBY MAGNA. 317097 A closing order was pla::ed on the Moat House, which dates from the 14th cent. and is one of the most attractive of the smaller Leicestershire houses. The owners were determined to save the property and after some time were able to sell it to Mr. H. S. Hall, who is now having it repaired. Thanks to his co-operation the Museum have been able to make drawings of the structure while it was stripped out. ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCH. 357165 The Ivanhoe Baths. This issue has involved the Society in much time and trouble, and the support of the County Planning Officer is gratefully acknowledged. The baths were built in 1822 by Robert Chaplin as part of a scheme to make Ashby a spa. They are the focal point of the group, which comprises the Royal Hotel, its stables opposite, three terraces of houses (upper, middle and lower class), the theatre and the station (slightly later). It is therefore a vital link in the history of Ashby and one of the few Classical Revival buildings in Leicestershire. The original dome was removed long ago and the lead on the roof had been missing for some 40 years. The general condition of the wings was appalling, but the central room was still fairly intact. Ii: had apsidal ends with coffered ceilings, a complex cornice and four curved doors leading to the assembly rooms and the baths in either wing. Outside there was a stone fa~ade with a colonnade having curved ends. The ba::k was brick. In view of the dangerous state of the building the owners, Messrs. Mitchell and Butler, proposed to demolish it. They showed the greatest kindness in considering possible schemes for its repair, and even offered to consider any scheme intended to restore the fabric and use the premises for some civic function . Mr. Anthony Herbert, A.R.I.B.A., and the Honorary Secretary prepared a full report and there was subsequently a meeting of all interested bodies including the Georgian Group and the Ministry of Works, at which meeting local councillors approved the idea of preservation but were later surprisingly reticent on the floor of the council chamber. It was clear that the only hope lay in the local authority and since local interest was so slight the building has now been demolished. There can be little doubt that in the future its passing will be deplored by the citizens of Ashby: alas, they have only themselves to blame. BIRSTALL. 596104 Further to the previous discoveries on this site some animal bones and a dozen or more horse's teeth were found in an area about 4 ft. X 4 ft. Among the bones were the crushed remains of two shield bosses lying side by side and below them an iron bridle bit.