Archaeologists digging up a mediaeval hospital in Lincoln say they expect to find a cemetery, building material such as tiles and even human bones.
Lincolnshire history lovers are being encouraged to get involved with the dig at South Common, working alongside archaeologists and students from the University of Lincoln, Bishop Grosseteste University and Anglia Ruskin University.
Dr Samantha Tipper is an anthropologist and is leading the dig.
She said: “This is a huge part of Lincolnshire’s history that I think most people don’t know anything about and have no idea that there was a hospital here at the common…
“When we do digs like this it shouldn’t just be for the academics or for the students. It’s so important that this dig is community based.”
The hospital was initially a leprosarium where people with leprosy in Lincolnshire could admit themselves into.
Leprosy is an infectious disease affecting many people around the world today. However, there have been no defiant cases reported in the UK since 1954.
Dr Tipper believes the hospital was built around 1089 and was in use for around 500 years, which would make it one of the biggest and earliest leprosarium’s in the country.
The dig itself is part of the Local Landscape and Hidden History project run by the City of Lincoln Council.
It will take place over two weekends in July: the 11 to 13 and the 18 to 20 with experts hoping to find artefacts from the hospital, a chapel and a cemetery.
Human bones have previously been found in the allotments at South Common, along with evidence of Victorian dumping pits.
Dr Tipper added: “I just want local people to get involved because if they get involved and are excited about it, then they will learn more about Lincolnshire’s history and more can be found in the future.
“It’s all just a lot of fun and very exciting.”
Dr Martin Huggon is an archaeologist who specialises in the study of medieval hospitals.
He said: “Sometimes people think medieval hospitals are bad or what they did was bad, but in reality what they were trying to do is very similar to modern discussions about social care and wider care.
“People didn’t believe, ‘you have leprosy, you’re nasty so go to the end of town, we don’t want to see you.’
“When the hospital was started, it was started in goodness. The idea was to help these people.”
