Tuesday, May 09, 2017

Viewing the remains of Roman Leicester


The excavations of Roman remains off Great Central Street in the centre of Leicester were opened to the public on Saturday and Sunday.

So long were the queues to view them that it was decided to open the site between noon and two every day this week.

I went along today, finding the entrance to the site directly opposite the old Leicester Central station.

Even on a weekday I had to queue for over an hour to get in to view it.

As the Leicester Mercury told us:
Key discoveries include the remains of one of the largest and highest-status Roman mosaic floors ever found in the city, two Roman streets containing a number of buildings and rare evidence of the first Anglo-Saxon migrants to arrive in the city following the demise of Roman Leicester.
This site was formerly occupied by the Stibbe factory, which supplied machinery to the local hosiery trade. That was built in the 1960s and its concrete pillars rather dominate proceedings.

The dig will continue until the late summer before the site is redeveloped as a hotel. The mosaics will be lifted and displayed there of in one of the city's museums.








1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It's just a shame the site could not have become a museum or visitor attraction. The old station is opposite and that too could have been turned into a visitor attraction. But in Leicester the developers rule.