Archaeological Investigations

Archaeologists from Allen Archaeology Limited have been working closely with the developers during the construction of the new Melton Borough Council Offices on the site off Burton Street. The archaeologists have been requested to work on the site as a condition of planning permission for the development, and all the work has been funded by Melton Borough Council.

Trenches were excavated on the car park site in 1989 and again in 2005 in advance of proposed developments that never came to fruition. The earliest evidence recorded was a single piece of pottery dating back to the Bronze Age (about 1500BC). Most of the evidence recorded however was related to the gradual development of the town. At the north end of the car park, near to the Anne of Cleves pub, a number of ditches were recorded running parallel to Burton Street, containing pottery dating as far back as the 9^th century AD.  It is believed that these were roadside ditches and it suggests that the existing line of Burton Street has been in use for over a thousand years. These ditches were recorded below medieval buildings, rubbish pits and wells, suggesting that as the medieval town expanded buildings encroached onto the road.  

Another series of trenches were excavated earlier this year further to the south, and again exposed roadside ditches that contained small amounts of medieval pottery dating to the 13^th to 14^th centuries. Because very few finds were apparent in this area it is believed that the town did not extend as far south as the train station in the medieval period, which is on lower ground near to the river.

To understand this part of the site, a series of boreholes were excavated to collect soil samples across the area of the new council building. The soil samples help to build up a picture of the way the environment has changed over a long period of time and how the area was used by people in the past.  This work did seem to confirm that the area was not used for human occupation, until the Melton Canal was excavated through the site in 1791. The canal followed the former line of a footpath between the car park and the train station (Mucky Lane), and the borehole survey also recorded the soils infilling the canal along this line.

As the works commence, an archaeologist will be on site to monitor all the excavations that may possibly impact upon areas where archaeologically significant deposits may be present, and to make sure an adequate record is made before the council offices are built. The archaeologists are working closely with developers and Melton Borough Council to record any such deposits without causing any delays to the project.

The picture below shows a series of railway sleepers exposed on the site during the groundworks.  Although the metal tracks have been removed, the sleepers clearly show the route of a previous railway line running towards the existing station to the south of the site.

Please contact us at parkside@melton.gov.uk if you would like any additional information.

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