Unearthing Derby's medieval past

Archaeologists have shed new light on Derby's medieval past with discoveries in the city centre that are thought to date back more than 800 years.

Experts have found a large ditch beneath a site on King Street that they believe may have marked the former northern boundary of the medieval town. They have also discovered the remains of medieval cooking pots, jugs and other artefacts that will help them to unravel the mystery of the latest finds.

A team from the Trent & Peak Archaeological Unit of The University of Nottingham has been carrying out excavations at the site on behalf of Metropolitan Housing Trust Midlands.
The King Street development site lies on the site of the medieval chapel of St. Helen, on what may then have been the northern outskirts of Derby. There is thought to have been a church on the site since Saxon times as it can probably be identified as one of the Derby churches owned by townsmen listed in Domesday Book of 1086.

A community of Augustinian canons was settled there in 1137, but in 1146 the canons moved away to Darley Abbey and the chapel was converted to a hospital. In 1538 the hospital passed to the crown, and thence to a private landowner, Sir Godfrey Foljambe who converted it into a private house. The site's later history included use as a factory from 1802, when burials relating to the monastery or hospital were discovered.

The King Street ditch is up six metres wide and over three metres deep — a substantial size. Pottery has been found on the site that has been provisionally dated to the medieval period, and possibly as early as the 12th century, though it will require specialist analysis to confirm this.

Gavin Kinsley, a field archaeologist and Deputy Head of the Trent & Peak Archaeological Unit, has been working on the site. He said: “There are several possible explanations of the purpose of this ditch. It might define the precinct of the chapel or hospital, which would be consistent with a medieval date.

“However, there are documentary references to a 'town ditch' existing in the area in the 13th century, presumably a ditch defining the perimeter of the medieval town. The large size of the King Street ditch would be more appropriate for a town boundary rather than a chapel precinct.

“Ditches defining long-lived boundaries such as this often have a complex history, and further excavations at a number of points will be required to establish its course, date of construction and subsequent history.”

Derby was a substantial settlement by the time of the Norman Conquest in 1066, when the earliest documents are available, but little is known about Derby's origins in the Saxon period. A pre-Viking focus is known from around the minster church of St. Alkmund — a Northumbrian prince killed in 802 AD – where earlier church structures have been found, and carved cross shafts and grave covers of Anglo-Saxon date, including the possible sarcophagus of St Alkmund himself. The Saxon town included the site of the cathedral, in what is now the modern town centre.

The Trent and Peak Archaeological Unit is part of The University of Nottingham, and is based on the University Park campus. Many of the unit staff have particular areas of expertise, and teach within the university.

Metropolitan Housing Trust Midlands commissioned the Unit to carry out an archaeological dig as part of its planning conditions for the King Street site.

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