Wall uncovered at medieval leprosy hospital site in Lincoln

Time Team archaeologists have uncovered a wall at the site of the Hospital of the Holy Innocents on Lincoln’s South Common during a three-day dig that began on Friday. The site is thought to have been one of medieval England’s earliest and largest leprosy hospitals. [1]

Volunteers dug a 30-metre trench linking two test pits from earlier work. Professor Carenza Lewis said a wall runs along the trench, while a geophysical survey suggests it extends beyond it. She also described a series of roughly five-metre-square features beside the wall that could have been small buildings or yards. [1]

The excavation follows work last year in which more than 100 volunteers helped uncover traces thought to be the hospital’s boundary walls. Lewis said historical documents indicate that up to 20 people with leprosy lived there; the hospital dates to around the late 11th to early 12th centuries. City of Lincoln Council believes it remained in use for about five centuries. [1]