Origins of a Leicester Suburb

Between 1993 and 1997 excavations were carried out on the south side of Bonners Lane, Leicester. The excavation preceded construction on the site of a new De Montfort University building. This report presents a detailed account of the findings of the excavation and attempts to integrate this information with the results of four other excavations undertaken in the same general area. The excavation site (National Grid Reference: SK 5852 0395) encompassed an area of c. 0.16 hectares on the south side of Bonners Lane, at its junction with Oxford Street (the medieval Southgates), approximately 250m south of the Roman and medieval walled town.The excavation area was dictated by the footprint of the planned new building and excluded an area in the south of the site and the eastern part of the Oxford Street frontage.This eastern area was subsequently excavated, in order to fully investigate the remains of an Anglo-Saxon building discovered in this part of the site. The total area excavated archaeologically amounted to c. 0.1 hectare. The range of finds included Prehistoric (of particular note was a Neolithic polished stone axe), Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Medieval, Post-Medieval, Post-Civil War, and Modern material.
With contributions by Ian L. Baxter, Paul Blinkhorn, Peter Boyer, Lynden Cooper, Siân Davies, Brenda M. Dickinson, Kay Hartley, Dawn Harvey, Mark Hassall, D. A. Higgins, Patrick Marsden, Angela Monckton, Graham Morgan, Rebecca A. Nicholson, Richard Pollard, R. A. Rutland, Deborah Sawday and Irene Schrüfer-Kolb