ULAS
University of Leicester Archaeological Services

Sanvey Gate Excavations, Leicester Square Development

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The Town Defences

A large stretch of the northern defences of Leicester's Roman and medieval town has recently been excavated by University of Leicester Archaeological Services. This work was carried out for Thomas Fish and Sons Ltd as part of the Leicester Square housing development on Sanvey Gate.

The first defences around Roman Leicester were probably built in the second century AD. The earliest evidence discovered on this part of the site was the rampart, a great earth bank still surviving at modern ground level. In front of this was the town wall, most of the stone of which had been taken away or 'robbed out' in later times. However, the 2.9m wide foundations of the wall were still intact in places, indicating that the wall may have stood a massive 5m high.

During fieldwork, a section of the Roman town wall was exposed to the north of its original position. The wall had toppled over and had been reused in a later period as a property boundary. This fragment of wall has provided new information about construction methods. For example, the face of the wall was made of narrow courses of hard granite with a smooth surface. The hard mortar bonding had nevertheless weathered considerably. Whether the wall collapsed or was deliberately toppled is uncertain, but we know that Roman buildings were in ruin and their stone was being robbed during the medieval period.

A series of large ditches ran around the town beyond the wall. The picture here shows just how deep they were, as much as 3m below ground level. The defences were very imposing features, and though in part to discourage would-be attackers from storming the town wall, they were at least partly constructed as a symbol of civic pride. There were probably three Roman ditches, and later, two medieval ditches cut through the silted up Roman ones as shown in the above reconstruction.

At one time the northern ditch was deliberately backfilled with stone. The stone is unlikely to have come from the town wall as it was not mortared. The massive sculpted stone, shown below right, was found however. This suggests the demolition of Roman buildings in the vicinity. The large sculpted stone was of a type most suitable for intricate work, and the level of workmanship is very high. It is very weathered however, indicating that it stood exposed for many years, perhaps in a standing building. The structure from which it originated may have been an important public building such as a town wall gateway or even a temple.

Inside the town

Two Roman stone walled buildings were found just inside the town defences. Building A (see plan left) was a courtyard building, perhaps a town house, which had at least four rooms looking on to the courtyard, and two further corridors. The building had large foundations, and probably had two storeys. It is interesting that a substantial building like this was so close to the defences. It  fronted onto a major street that continued south into the town. This street originally had drainage ditches both sides, but these were replaced by walls in the Roman period. Building B also had at least four rooms, and was most likely a strip building more than 20m long and 6m wide. There was little evidence that they were high status unlike the Vine Street townhouse, although the courtyard building had patches of mortar floor surviving that could have held a tessellated pavement. A dump of tesserae was found in a pit nearby.

Outside the town

Just beyond the defences, and right on the north edge of our site, we uncovered a medieval building, as seen here. The stone wall foundations can be seen on the left, and to the right a stone well, both reusing Roman building materials. The building fronted onto the medieval street of Sanvey Gate. That the building was so close to the town ditches is important. By being just outside the town the owners may have avoided taxes, although other work on Sanvey Gate has also exposed medieval settlement expanding beyond the town boundary.

The Finds

In general very few finds were found in the ditches, suggesting that they were kept clean, however occasional finds of pottery will help in dating the defences. Because pottery fashions changed frequently, even small fragments, or 'sherds', can give an accurate date for their manufacture.

In the medieval ditches organic material survived including bone, insect remains, seeds, leaves, twigs, and even worked leather and timbers. The leather was pierced with holes for stitching and may have been a shoe or other clothing. Analysis of the timbers can tell us what woodlands were being exploited, and how they were managed. The plant material provides information about the ancient environment, with the plants indicating that the silting up medieval ditches were rough ground with abundant weeds, and perhaps full of water for much of the year.

Other finds made during the excavations include several bronze objects, including brooches and coins. These finds are most likely chance losses rather than deliberately buried. Here are a pair of Roman frit beads, a bronze enamelled trefoil fitting, and a bronze flagon top, a very rare find. Also, the excavations at Sanvey Gate, Leicester Square produced the first stratified early Anglo Saxon pottery from within the town walls, and the first evidence for Saxon structures here.

The Excavations

Excavation at Sanvey Gate began with a series of trial trenches dug by a large mechanical excavator, to identify if any archaeology survived and, if so, how deep it was.

Features were photographed, drawn and recorded, then excavated to gather finds and information as to their date and function. Any finds were cleaned and stored prior to identification and analysis by specialists.

The whole process can appear quite laborious, but all the information has to be recorded as it cannot be retrieved at a later date.