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| The mystery of the missing shoes... | ||
 The mystery of the missing shoes may well have been solved by an archaeological dig in the centre of Coventry. A team from Northamptonshire Archaeology has been working for a month on the area between the ring road and the Belgrade Theatre. The work has been commissioned to make way for the impressive new Belgrade Plaza development which will provide a gateway to the city centre with new apartments, retail and leisure space as well as hotels and a casino. The archaeologists have been mystified by the discovery of a string of odd shoes on the edge of what used to the ditch near the old city wall. But Iain Soden, senior project officer for Northamptonshire Archaeology, thinks the ground conditions in the ditch may well be responsible. “We are used to finding parts of shoes which have been discarded but we have found a lot of complete shoes of smaller size. “All we can think is that workers who tried to use the ditch, which would have been muddy and full of all sorts of rubbish, lost a shoe on the bank trying to get out. “Some of the other shoes that we have found will have been cannibalised for repairs but there has higher number of complete examples than we would expect. “We have also found pottery which we have been able to piece together and also a man’s ring which we will hope to clean up and look at more closely.” He added: “We are currently working on the Hill Street side of the site and excavating a house which had bay windows and a garden to the side.” Developer Oakmoor Deeley has started on the improvement and expansion of Leigh Mills car park but the archaeological survey must be carried out before work starts on the new plaza. Tim Hurdiss, of Oakmoor Deeley, said: “It is great to see the dig unearthing artefacts and it is certainly tells us more about the area. “Iain and his team are not expecting to uncover anything earth-shattering but the dig will give them a further insight into life in medieval Coventry. “Our development will be far more inclusive than the medieval city – there will be homes, retail space, hotels and a casino – so, you could say, something for everyone.” The development is being marketed by Coventry-based Shortland Horne. Pictured (from the back): Iain Soden (Northamptonshire Archaeology), Chris Patrick (Coventry City Council’s Planning Archaeologist), George Demidowicz (Coventry City Council’s Conservation and Archaeology Team Leader), Tim Hurdiss (Oakmoor Deeley). |
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