Archaeological Assessment Report and Updated Project Design: Phases 2 & 3 Bath Lane, Leicester (Part 1)

Wardell Armstrong LLP has been commissioned by Watkin Jones Group for an archaeological excavation at Phases 2 and 3, Bath Lane, Leicester, Leicestershire. The archaeological excavation is required to investigate, record and fully understand the known archaeological resource ahead of redevelopment of the Site for student accommodation (464 bedrooms) and 184 residential apartments (30 x studios, 89 x 1 bed, 65 x 2 bed), together with 172 sq. m of flexible commercial space (classes a1, a2, a3, a4, a5, b1, d1 and d2), ground level car parking, associated ancillary works and landscaping. The Site is characterised as an urbanised area with Roman,Medieval and Post Medieval archaeological remains. The Phase 2 and 3 excavations revealed a complex stratigraphic sequence dating from the early 1st century AD. Traces of early Roman occupation, construction of the Roman city defences, higher status Roman buildings with tessellated floors and painted wall plaster relating to Later Roman occupation and subsequent abandonment marked by an accumulation of horticultural soils were revealed across both sites. The precinct wall and probable ancillary buildings associated with the former Blackfriars Dominican Friary were uncovered. Extensive medieval pitting, industrial evidence including traces of a possible tannery, stone-lined wells and the use of part of the site as an inhumation cemetery in the later medieval period were also discovered