Café MOUNTSORREL POST leaves No. 68 SEPTEMBER 2019 centre Digging up the past in Castle Gardens YOUR FREE COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER www.birstallpost.co.uk
PEPPERCORNS CAFÉ have left the Mountsorrel Memorial Centre after a long running dispute with Mountsorrel Parish Council.
AS PART of the month long Leicestershire and Rutland Festival of Archaeology the Mountsorrel Heritage Group dug two archaeological test pits in Castle Gardens. Volunteers were divided into diggers, sievers and washers. Metre square test pits were dug and each 10cm spit of soil was sieved and any finds bagged labelled and washed. Passers by came to have a look, one staying the rest of the day digging. Spokesman Keith Foster said: “Digging in the shadow of Castle Hill where a Norman castle once stood would we find evidence of the 1217 siege by the French army of Prince Louis? No. What we found was evidence of habitation along the old A6 going back hundreds
Open for more than a year in a ground floor unit near the entrance, the café closed on August 22. The café owner and Mountsorrel Parish Council were never able to come to an agreement regarding the terms of the lease. Peppercorns have made a formal complaint to Mountsorrel Parish Council and have also contacted local MP Edward Argar. In a Facebook post, Peppercorns said: “The saddest part about closing the café is losing a fantastic team like the one we have at Mountsorrel. I am immensely proud of them. The Mountsorrel community has welcomed us with open arms.” On August 14 Mountsorrel Parish Council posted a statement on their website: Continued on page 2
DAVE HUTCHINGS GENERAL BUILDING & HOME REPAIRS Pics: (top) washing the finds are Kathleen Warrilow, Sylvia Stanton, Janet Killingback & Margaret Manning; (right) digging is Paul Hunt; some of the items found; sieving soil beside one of the pits
of years, in the shape of bits of clay pipes and and pottery sherds.” In practically every spit they found Victorian White Ware (19th to 20th century) and Pancheon Ware- pottery used for a range of household items including Pancheons (large bowls for milk to cool in used in the dairy industry) from the 17th to 20th century
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