Video: Notts Tonight’s Hugh Casswell sees what has been uncovered at the caves today
City centre caves that were previous undiscovered by historians are ‘completely changing our understanding of Nottingham’ according to an archaeologist.
Notts TV revealed yesterday (Monday March 6) that a network of caves left untouched for 120 years had been discovered under a college building.
City archaeologist Scott Lomax said: “It’s completely changing our understanding of this part of Nottingham from the medieval period right through to the 19th century.
“Our knowledge is evolving on a daily basis because of this excavation.
“Along the sides of the cave, you can actually see some of the original pickaxe marks showing signs of when the cave was first dug out perhaps as much as 200 years ago.”
The pickaxe markings are not the only discovery being made by the excavation team.
Project manager Paul Flintoft said: “This clay pipe bung [pictured] would have had a stem that came off it but on the end is a kangaroo.
“I’ve never seen anything like it before; I’ve seen clay pipe before but to have a kangaroo on the end is quite interesting.
“That’s going to go back to our lab this afternoon to get cleaned up, we’ll have a specialist to look at it and then we’ll see how old it is.”
