They were pretty certain that this was the site of The Grey Friars, a Franciscan
Friary and Church which had been destroyed during the Dissolution of the
Monasteries in the 16th Century. Sure enough they unearthed evidence
and this weekend we, the public, were invited to see it for ourselves.
We had to queue...
But the sun was shining, people were chatty and excited and before we knew it we were in. This was our very own Archaeologist for the visit.
He showed us the trenches and explained what they were able
to deduce from their findings...
They had, as yet, found no bones but they had found some
floor tiles...
...and the imprint of where those tiles would have been...
They've unearthed the foundations of narrow passages which
would have been the cloister and of a wall with a buttress which was the Church. We
had to use lots of imagination. No doubt when the report is shown on the TV
there’ll be stunning projections of what the Friary would have looked like, but
for me that won’t be anywhere near as exciting as being on the site, seeing the
process and speaking with one of the archaeologists. It made it feel even more
real than any TV projection possibly could.
It will be great if they do find Richard III’s bones but the dig isn’t quite over yet so... watch this space!
