Archaeologists to return to that Leicester car park

When I saw the front page of the Leicester Mercury today I assumed it was connected with the University of Leicester's April Fool:

Following the unprecedented success of last year's search for the mortal remains of King Richard III, archaeologists at the University of Leicester have announced plans for a new, even more ambitious project. They intend to locate and uncover the last resting place of King Richard IV.

But it turns out the Mercury story is for real. It begins:

Archaeologists are to excavate more of the car park where they found Richard III. This summer, academics from the University of Leicester will dig up the site in New Street to uncover the east end of the Grey Friars church. 

The project, which is expected to cost about £30,000, is intended to produce detailed records of the church where the king was buried more than 500 years ago and where his remains were discovered in August. 

A spokesman for the university said: "The planned excavation is because of the work that is to start soon on the visitor centre."

The hoo-hah Richard's body has obscured the fact that the university's principal reason for undertaking the dig last summer was to discover the remains of Grey Friars. They can now complete that task.

Incidentally, when I first went to the dig someone told me that the "fairly nondescript 1930s' building on site used to house the city library. As it appears to be on the way out, I have used its photograph here.