2001_000

University of Leicester Archaeological Services
Evidence for other mortar floors and a wall, since robbed
of its stone, were also found within the trench.
The two trenches in the middle of the site revealed wellpreserved
medieval and Roman levels at a depth of around
1m from the present ground surface. The excavation of
medieval pits and part of a well exposed further evidence
of the robbed walls
and clay floor of a
Roman building.
Two small handexcavated
trenches to
the south-east
provided evidence for
post-medieval and
medieval buildings.
These would have
fronted on to
Highcross Street, and
pre-dated those that
were demolished in
the mid-twentieth
century, prior to the
construction of
Vaughan Way.
The trench in the southern part of the site produced part of
a substantial stone wall, with 0.5m deep footings, in its
northern end. The wall was aligned close to east-west. A
parallel wall, 2.8m to the south, was also seen surviving
beneath the brick floor of the modern cellar. The top of this
wall was level and suggests that it was a base for a
‘stylobate’ – a horizontal course of stone blocks onto which
columns would have been stood to form a colonnade. These
walls may be part of the substantial stone structure seen
during the Blue Boar Lane excavations to the south of the
site in 1958.
The evaluation has shown that particularly well-preserved
archaeological remains exist within the area, close to the
present ground surface. They may also survive beneath
some of the modern cellar floors. At least two substantial
Roman buildings were revealed. To the north, a room with
a hypocaust (central heating system) and fine quality
patterned mosaic floor, next to a corridor with rooms leading
off it, was found,
suggesting the
presence of a high
status town house.
To the south, on the
other side of a
Roman street, lay a
substantial stone built
building, which may
have been the town’s
market hall – a large
public building known
as the macellum.
Above: a glimpse of a fine patterned mosaic
floor below a collapsed Roman building.
During the medieval
period it is likely
that this area was
mainly gardens or
agricultural land, with
buildings only on the frontage of Highcross Street and Friars
Causeway, thus little structural evidence from the medieval
period was revealed in the majority of the site area.
We would like to thank Westmoreland Properties both for
their help and co-operation, and for funding this project.
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