Cirencester, 1961. Second Interim Report

During 1961 the Cirencester Excavation Committee was faced with three major rescue excavations. Two development sites, for convenience called Leaholme Gardens, lay south of The Avenue, which crosses the heart of the Roman town, while the third lay north of Ashcroft Road, in an area well known for discoveries of mosaic pavements. Excavations were carried out for three weeks at Easter and for nine weeks during the summer. The Committee records its grateful thanks to each of those bodies which gave in all a very large sum of money, about £2,200; to all who in a variety of capacities assisted the excavations, often, as at Easter, in very bad weather; and to the Cirencester Urban District Council and Messrs. Mycalex Ltd. for permission to dig in Leaholme Gardens and on the Ashcroft Road site respectively. At Easter an L-shaped site, east of Leaholme House, was examined, covering the west end of the basilica, first discovered by our Fellow, Mr. Wilfrid Cripps, in 1898, and the corners of Insulae V and VI divided by Ermin Street and lying to the south of the basilica. In the summer the second site in Leaholme Gardens, west of that already described, was examined and proved to include the corner of Insula II, while beneath both sites conclusive structural evidence of an early military occupation was found.