Beneath a city square in the English city of Leicester, archaeologists have discovered a Roman infant burial, remnants of medieval commerce and a 16th-century civic building’s foundations. Experts think the latter is the bygone Gainsborough Chamber, which was first recorded in the 1500s and home to a dungeon once described as “a most vile prison.”
A team of researchers from University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS) has been excavating Leicester Market since July, after the city tore it up for a renovation. The market has been a hub of commerce and community in central England for centuries.
“We’ve found all sorts of archaeology that date back all the way to when Leicester was a Roman town,” excavation leader Gavin Speed tells BBC Leicester. “We found evidence for the very first market, as well. And, perhaps remarkably, we’ve also found a large stone medieval building. This building contained a mayor’s office on the upper floor, contained shops below, and below ground we found evidence for a medieval dungeon.”
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