Video: Notts Tonight’s Hugh Casswell visits the caves for the final time
After a month of excavation, archaeologists have explored previously undiscovered city centre caves for the last time.
A network of caves left untouched for over 120 years and previously unknown to historians had been discovered under a college building site earlier this month.
Archaeologists claim the discovery ‘completely changed our understanding of Nottingham from the medieval period right through to the 19th century’.
The caves were fully opened up two weeks ago with the team digging down far enough to gain full access.
The caves have been laser mapped to preserve them for future generations and now, in the final excavation before construction, project supervisor Joe Groarke was winched down into a medieval well to see what he could find after it was discovered last week.
He said: “To work in a cave is definitely unique and it’s definitely up at the top.
“Some people think our job is quite cool and it is most days but not even we get to work in things like caves every day and it’s brilliant to have the opportunity.”
The well that Joe went down proved that the caves are older than archaeologists first thought.
City archaeologist Scott Lomax said: “For the medieval period, very little was known about this particular area but we knew that the land belonged to the hospital of St John which was founded in the early 13th century.
“Over than knowing that that land existed, we didn’t really know exactly what was happening here so this has filled in a huge gap in our knowledge of medieval Nottingham.”
