Bradgate Park Fieldschool

Delighted that one of the objects from the fieldschool at Bradgate features (as number 65) in the Charnwood Forest in 100 Treasures:

Charnwood Forest in 100 Treasures - Charnwood Forest Geopark Celebrate Charnwood Forest through the 100 Treasures that tell this region's geological, biological and human stories.

A new podcast featuring Pete Liddle about Groby Old Hall and Bradgate House: https://thetudortravelguide.com/bradgate-park-and-groby-old-hall/

A new paper, that includes genetic analysis of one of the horse bones excavated from the stable at Bradgate Park: Librado, P., Tressières, G., Chauvey, L. et al. Widespread horse-based mobility arose around 2,200 BCE in Eurasia. Nature (2024).

Widespread horse-based mobility arose around 2,200 BCE in Eurasia - Nature Horses revolutionized human history with fast mobility1. However, the timeline between their domestication and widespread integration as a means of transportation remains contentious2–4. Here we assemble a large collection of 475 ancient horse genomes to assess the period when these animals were f...

Two new publications from the Bradgate Park Fieldschool published today in Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society.

A talk at the Univeristy of Nottingham this week

Funded PhD centred on Bradgate Park - get in touch for more information :)

This AHRC Midlands 4 Cities PhD position - ‘Bradgate Park in a wider world: a historical-archaeological investigation of the colonial connections of an elite estate’ - could be for you if you have experience in archaeology, history, museum or material culture studies...…and a burning curiosity for less familiar and radically inclusive histories. Such as what do exotic trees, pipes, turkeys, and sugar reveal about Bradgate and Empire? How do Leicestershire’s estates link to India, South Africa, the Caribbean, and Haile Selassie?
Got your interest? Check out the link: https://www.midlands4cities.ac.uk/find-a-project/

You’ll join a vibrant and inclusive research community in the School (research and reading groups with Material Worlds, Intersectional Bodies, and the Centre for Endangered Archaeology and Heritage), supervised by Richard Thomas, Alice Samson and James Dymond in partnership with Bradgate Park Trust. You'll also be supported by Prof. Corinne Fowler and experiences learned from the project. https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/who-we-are/research/colonial-countryside-project

From the start you’ll work closely with the Bradgate Park team to engage the public and produce a temporary exhibition for the Park visitor centre, integrating new stories into the estate’s history.

Applications open 16th of October. Minority candidates, those with professional or outreach experience, especially welcome to apply. Get in touch with Richard Thomas (https://le.ac.uk/people/richard-thomas) or Alice Samson (https://le.ac.uk/archaeology/people/academic) with any questions or queries. University of Leicester

An enjoyable tour led by Pete Liddle and Richard Thomas, who were sharing the results from the excavations at Bradgate Park as part of the Leicstershire and Rutland Festival of Archaeology

Apologies for being quiet lately, but progress on the post-excavation of the Bradgate Park excavations is continuing. Today we received radiocarbon dates from the horses excavated from the stables in Season 3. This reveals that they are probably dated to the late 17th or early 18th century (260+/-20BP), which is consistent with activity on the site and what we know about the history of the stables.

Exceptionally worn teeth in one of the horses excavated from outside the stables in our fourth season

Post-excavation continues on the finds from the fieldschool. Today we began work on the analysis of the clay pipes from the stables