Medieval and Victorian artefacts have been uncovered in central Lincoln during an excavation at a student accommodation building site.
It marks the first phase of excavation at 27-29 Clasketgate before the site is developed into high-end student accommodation by Jackson and Jackson Developments.
A Victorian well, a coin dating back to 1799 and a number of 12th century medieval ovens were among the findings uncovered by Lincoln-based Network Archaeology.
The team found a coin dating back to 1799
Tiles are all that survived of the sequence of medieval ovens found at the northern end of the excavation site and this suggests that the ovens were likely bread ovens in a substantial stone building such as a merchant’s house.
The ovens would have worked by setting a fire within the oven and once this had burnt out, the ashes would have been raked out and unbaked loaves would have been placed inside to be cooked by the hot tile linings
Further to the south of the site, a series of stone-lined pits were also uncovered, which have been tentatively assessed as malt kilns associated with the Victorian Marquis of Granby pub.
This determination is based on the excavation of malt kilns on the Lincoln eastern bypass that were similar in size, shape and build and according to a 1902 city map – the Victorian Marquis of Granby pub ran right through the middle of the Clasketgate site and cellars were found on the eastern side of the boundary which could have been from outbuildings associated with the pub.
A Victorian stone lined pit found on site
A Victorian well has also been revealed, and close by, a large pit filled with metal-working residue. In the pit, a 1799 penny was found that would have pre-dated the pub and later Victorian furniture warehouse that occupied the rear of the site.
Dominik Jackson, director at Jackson & Jackson Developments, said: “Lincoln is steeped in history and as with all of our development sites, we always conduct careful excavations before our building works commence. This has been a particularly interesting dig and the archaeologists have uncovered some really exciting hidden historical finds which shed further light on medieval and Victorian Lincoln.”
The tile floor of one of the Medieval ovens
Excavation works continue at the Clasketgate site where it is expected that more medieval and Roman artefacts will be unearthed.
Nigel Cavanagh, Network Archaeology said: “Our excavations are set to continue this year and we hope to uncover more historical treasures.
“We are unlikely to see much more of the pub, as this area is at the extreme south-eastern end of the site, however it may be possible to excavate a very small part of the main building along the Clasketgate boundary of the site, but this won’t be for a few months yet.”
“The large pit that was found with metal residue inside was full of slag, and once this is scientifically analysed this will give a good indication of what metal-working processes were going on. One of the excavators identified copper residues in the fill, which may relate to jewellery making or some other form of craft. Alternatively, it could be blacksmithing or something else – but the slag will tell us for definite once analysed.”
A visual representation of the new build planned for Claxengate.
The new development will stand on the old Pygott & Crone building and car park site and will provide 114-student beds over seven storeys with commercial unit space located on the ground floor.
The adjacent site which used to be the Grantham Street NCP car park is also being turned into a six-storey 118-bed student accommodation residence with one level of public NCP car parking space.
Building work on this site commenced back in July 2018 and is set for completion in September 2019.
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A father was mistakenly mailed hundreds of addresses of parents with young children by North Lincolnshire Council.
The man received more than 200 letters intended for families with three-year-old children.
Instead of being sent separately to the correct addresses, all 208 letters were sent to his home.
They were all for parents with three-year-old children informing them they were eligible for funding, and had the intended addresses printed on them.
The North Lincolnshire dad is worried the details of so many people with young children could have accidentally ended up in the wrong hands.
He said: “I couldn’t believe that little kids’ information was sent out by mistake like this.
“I have two young girls, and I would hate to know that their information had been sent to someone else.
“The envelope was a huge package with my address on, so I assumed it was from work.
“I couldn’t believe when I opened it up and saw the identical letters with over 200 addresses on them.
“As soon as I realised what it was, I considered shredding it. In the end, I contacted North Lincolnshire Council to report it.
“How could a mistake like this happen? I dread to think if it has happened before.”
Letters with addresses of over 200 parents with three-year-old children were mistakenly sent to one home Credit: Submitted Approved for use by all partners
He has arranged to hand the letters back to North Lincolnshire Council to ensure that they are disposed of properly.
A spokesperson has promised that the way letters are posted has been changed to ensure it can’t happen again.
They said: “We take data protection very seriously and successfully send hundreds of thousands of letters each year.
“Changes have been made to the post system to ensure no such technical issues happen again and all the correspondence was eventually returned.”
The discussion was almost scuppered by a complaint, however progressed only to be deferred as members wished to visit the site.
Recommending approval, officers said the plans, which will include a mix of houses as well as bungalows for over 55s along with 12 homes classed as affordable, would provide “effective” use of the land and not create “unacceptable harm”.
The site is allocated for housing in the Central Lincolnshire Local Plan.
Mark Foster, land and planning director at Lindum Homes told the previous meeting the quality of houses was “vitally important” and the layout of the development was “extremely low density – incorporating more open space than required by planning policy”.
How the site could be laid out.
Objectors to the plans, however, said they presented a risk of overdevelopment and would have a long-term risk to the village infrastructure as well as biodiversity, residential amenity, the character of the village and highway safety.
Resident Nigel Heward, said existing infrastructure was “not fit for purpose” and that a lack of footpath provision at the proposed entry was “an accident waiting to happen”.
Lincolnshire County Council, as statutory consultees on highways, had not lodged any objections, but councillors wanted to see the situation for themselves.
As part of the plans the developers will be asked to make a £30,992.50 contribution to Welton Surgery so it can reconfigure its existing layout to create a larger clinical space and more flexibility to manage the projected patient increase.
A man accused of murdering Sam Davies in Lincoln has denied any involvement in the fatal stabbing, a trial heard on Friday.
The prosecution case is that Eimantas Gochman, who was 19 at the time of the attack on May 27 last year, was hired to carry out the hit on Mr Davies. Gochman is one of seven defendants on trial for murder.
The 23-year-old victim was stabbed twice in a park between Coleridge Gardens and Browning Drive at about 10.45pm and died hours later in hospital.
In police interviews read out to the jury at Nottingham Crown Court on Friday, January 28, detectives put to Gochman that there was a lot of contact between a mobile number associated with him and co-defendant Joe Jameson’s mobile in the minutes after the stabbing.
Earlier that day, Jameson had demanded to know from Mr Davies’ partner where he was because he wanted to kill him.
A detective said to Gochman: “We’re saying that after the stabbing, you’ve contacted Joe Jameson.”
Gochman, who denied the number was his, said: “Yeah, but you believe I killed someone, which is not true.”
In a later interview on May 31, Gochman is told that Mr Davies’ mobile phone had been found a few feet away from a knife they believe was used in the attack.
“Is it likely your DNA will be on that phone?” the suspect is asked. Gochman replied: “There’s no way.”
It was put to him that co-defendant Eric Kesel told detectives that he’d heard Gochman dumped the knife.
Gochman said: “I’m just labelled as this ****ing killer and it’s completely not me. It’s just not nice, it’s not nice.”
A message with a bunch of flowers left at the scene reads “Too young to be gone. RIP”. | Photo: The Lincolnite
Gochman said he had been at The Lincoln Imp pub with friends until about 9pm, then went home to get changed and on to co-defendant Charlie Wakefield’s.
He’d then spent the whole night there before having to contact his mum in the morning to get him to work in Newark.
He said he was late to work, felt rough and got his mum to pick him up before lunchtime.
Police interviews with Wakefield were also read out to the court on Friday. He told detectives that he was on a curfew tag so had to be at home between 7pm and 7am.
He said Gochman had called him from the pub at about 8.45pm on the day of the stabbing to ask if could come round for a spliff. Wakefield had said that was fine.
Wakefield said Gochman called again about ten minutes later to say he was leaving the pub at that point and was going home first to get changed.
Gochman called one further time to check it was still ok, about a minute before he arrived at Wakefield’s home in Broxholme Gardens.
According to Wakefield, neither of them left the house again before Gochman’s mum picked up her son at about 8am the following morning to take him to work.
Wakefield said in the interviews that a 17-year-old co-defendant, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, also spent the night with them and was sent out in a taxi to buy weed from a friend of Wakefield’s.
Flowers left in tribute of Lincoln stabbing victim Sam Davies. | Photo: The Lincolnite
Wakefield said co-defendant Eric Kesel told him on May 28 there was “armed police, CID, forensics, everything” on Browning Drive.
The detectives were told by Wakefield he went for a look and was told by a police officer at a cordon that there had been a stabbing. Kesel had arrived there moments later, jokingly calling him “PC Wakefield” and the police officer made a comment about the surname.
Then, later in the day, when Wakefield found out Kesel had been arrested, he said he started “panicking” that he would be “dragged into it”. He admitted making a quick internet search about being an accessory to a crime.
Wakefield said Gochman had been “calm” when he arrived and they had drunk beer, smoked and played Fifa.
He said: “I’m not being funny but if he came round my yard and said ‘Oh, I’ve just done this murder’, I’ll go in the next room and I’ll ring the ****ing police myself. **** that.”
All seven defendants face one count of murder, which they all deny. They are Billy Gill, 21, of Hatcliffe Gardens; Daniel Heydari, 25, of Chestnut Street; Joe Jameson, 24, of Whitehall Terrace; Eimantas Gochman, 20, of Sturton Close; Eric Kesel, 19, of Browning Drive; and Charlie Wakefield, 21, of Broxholme Gardens. A 17-year-old boy cannot be legally identified due to his age. Jameson is also accused of making a threat to kill, which he denies.
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