ULAS
University of Leicester Archaeological Services

East Bond St., Leicester - Evaluation, Excavation and Exhumation

The excavation at East Bond St., Leicester allowed for the first exploration of the archaeology beneath the former ‘Megabowl’ and St. Peter’s Lane Car Park. The site was known to contain two chapels from the 19th Century; the Ebenezer Chapel (non-conformist Baptists) and the Bond Street Congregational Chapel. They both opened in the early 1800s and were not closed until the early 1960s. The construction of the car park in the 1960s saw the removal of parts of the graveyards.

The aim in this phase of redevelopment was to fully remove the remaining graveyard residents and re-inter them with their companions from the 1967 removal at Gilroes Cemetery, Groby Road. The Bond Street Congregational Chapel displayed east-west burials except for one, inside the chapel, which was aligned north-south. They were laid out in a grid pattern and invariably buried three bodies deep. Due to the non-conformist attitudes at the Ebenezer Chapel, burials were aligned in both directions in order to utilise space in the most effective manner. Gravestones were unearthed in the vicinity of both burial grounds. Along with coffin burials were brick-lined slate-capped tombs, as shown above, which would have contained higher status individuals. Some were 3 tiers deep.

An absence of archaeological evidence supported the picture from the Roberts map of 1741 that the area was mainly given over to agriculture and orchards during the medieval and post-medieval periods.  The ploughing, or generation of workable soils in the area deeply truncated the ground, as a result of which only the bottoms of the deepest Roman pits survived. A Roman road believed to have been present on the west of the site had also been completely removed. Cultivation furrows and boundary ditches were located along with the occasional ephemeral clay and stone foundation for a small timber structure. Otherwise, there was evidence for extensive quarry pitting for gravel/sand extraction and refuse pits. The refuse pits contained animal bone including cow, pig, sheep, deer and dog!  Some rather unusual and rare pottery was also discovered, including this fragment of a very unusual late 13th or 14th century medieval Sandy ware face jug, probably made to order to impress important guests at the dinner table!

A Roman road was discovered running north-south across the site. This is shown in the top photo, and is the same road as seen on the Inland Revenue office site and subsequently at the Sanvey Gate site. Two distinct phases of gravel road metalling were seen here. The lower gravel in the upper road was made up of larger cobbles to create a sturdy base for the road.

It was soon discovered that the Roman archaeology was severely truncated across the western half of the site by medieval agricultural and horticultural processes, as well as quarry pitting and refuse pits. It was only on the very east of the site, mainly on the east of the surviving Roman road that Roman archaeology was preserved. Extensive metalled surfaces were seen and residual building materials such as wall plaster, granite and mortar were discovered. This area was not under threat from development and so was to be left in place. The recording of this area allowed for the retrieval of surface finds which included circular gaming pieces, bone pins (see right), coins and metal work of c.2nd Century date.

The resurfacing of Causeway Lane revealed at least three phases of strip buildings on the Roman roadside, very close to and similar to those found on the Causeway Lane excavation under the Inland Revenue office (Saxon House).

The work was carried out between February and August 2006 for Shires GP Ltd.