Roman Leicester

Abstract

A FURTHER stage in the proceedings which will determine the future of Roman Leicester (see NATURE of August 29, p. 356) was reached on September 3, when an inquiry was held in the city by the Ministry of Health to examine the application of the Leicester Corporation to borrow £135,000 for the purpose of erecting baths on the site adjacent to the Jewry Wall, upon which archaeological investigations are being conducted by Miss Kathleen Kenyon. The application was opposed by the Leicester Archaeological Society, the Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society and the Leicester Civic Society, bodies co-operating in the excavation. They were represented by Mr. Macgregor Clarkson; and Mr. P. K. Baillie Reynolds, Inspector of Ancient Monuments, was also present, representing the Office of Works. In the course of his evidence, Mr. Clarkson stressed the unique position which the site conferred on Leicester. The recent discoveries, he urged, made it possible to point to the civic centre of the city in three historic periodsthe Town Hall of Roman times, the Guildhall of the Middle Ages, and the modern Town Hall. Miss Kenyon's evidence dealt with the important archaeological features of the site added by her investigations, including part of the Forum and the ten feet depth added to the Jewry Wall, part of the Roman Town Hall, which, now standing at 35 ft. in total height, is one of the largest Roman walls in Britain. This wall is scheduled as an ancient monument.