A HISTORY OF LEICESTERSHIRE 



Nichols 88 describes a coloured tesselated pavement found in 1794 at the 

 Grey Friars, on the south side of St. Martin's Churchyard, at a depth of 6 ft. 

 below the surface. No design, he says, could be seen on it. 



Near to St. Martin's Church, on the site of Wyggeston's Hospital, a 

 small column was found in 1875, which is now in the Leicester Museum 

 (No. 15). Mr. Fox mentions that this 'looks very like the column of a 

 colonnade of the upper storey of some buildings which had a hand-rail from 

 shaft to shaft. The hole for the tenon of the rail cut as small as possible so 

 as not to weaken the shaft and the little bracket worked on the shaft under 

 it to carry the greater width of the rail are noteworthy.' 8 * 



A portion of a coarse tesselated pavement was discovered in Southgate 

 Street in 1866, with the fragment of a column, thought to be No. 20 in the 

 Museum. Lower down the street, near to Bakehouse Lane, fragments of 

 painted wall-plaster were found at a depth of 1 8 ft. below the present 

 surface. 86 



In 1871, 3ft. or 4ft. below the surface, several square feet of concrete, 

 from which tesserae had evidently been removed, were discovered on the 

 south side of Silver Street, and a little later an extensive portion of tesselated 

 pavement in good condition was revealed within 2 \ ft. of the present street 

 level ; it was described as being of the guilloche pattern, within a square 

 border all of black, white, and red tesserae. The peculiarity of the find was 

 its nearness to the present surface, most of the Roman discoveries in Leicester 

 being from 8 ft. to 1 2 ft. below the street level. 



Near to this discovery, in the same street, on the site of the new Opera 

 House and about 1 2 ft. below the present level, a tesselated pavement was 

 found in 1876 about 20 ft. by 14 ft. in size. The tesserae were of a rough 

 make, and strewn about on the floor were several pieces of pottery, fragments 

 of Samian ware, and a few coins much corroded. Other remains of the 

 foundations of this building had been uncovered some years before. Relics 

 have frequently been discovered between this spot and St. Martin's Church. 86 



During 1889 some excavations made for new buildings between High 

 Street and Silver Street disclosed the existence of a Roman wall running due 

 east and west for a considerable distance, but it was unfortunately destroyed 

 before it could be properly inspected. 37 Later (in 1902) a wall was again 

 found under High Street, which was thought to be part of that discovered 

 in 1 86 1 in St. Martin's and Townhall Lane. 88 



Turning now to the remains of buildings in the northern part of the 

 Roman town, if the evidence of Carte can be relied upon, it would appear 

 that High Cross Street very closely followed the line of one of the main 

 Roman streets. He mentions that during excavations for waterworks in 

 1685, a wall of stone and Roman tiles was discovered, which extended from 

 Redcross Street to the elm trees near the North Gate and followed the line 

 of the street, 6 ft. or 7 ft. from the houses on the west side, ' many loads of 

 stone' being carted away from it. In 1716, 'at the second house beyond 

 Blue Boar Lane,' a little out in the street in front of the house, a similar wall 

 was found, standing upright to within 3 ft. of the surface. The height of 



" Hist. Leic. \, 619. " Arch. Journ. xlvi, 49. " Leic. Arch. Sue. ii, 22 ; Fox, Arch. Journ. xlvi, 62. 



36 Assoc. Arch. Sof. xiii, p. cii ; Leic. Arch. Sue. iv, 106 ; v, 49, 55. 



37 Assoc. Arch. Soc. xx, p. Ix (Rep.) ; Leic. Arch. Soc. vii, 207. M Assoc. Arch. Sac. xxvi, 461. 



190 



