The Austin Friars, Leicester

Few excavations have been undertaken on urban friaries and there are many aspects of the buildings and economy of the mendicant houses that are imperfectly understood. The potential of these houses within medieval archaeology has still to be fully realised. The advantages of continuous corporate existence and of regular documentary references both to the religious activity and to involvement in secular concerns makes this a worthwhile subject to tackle. There is a further advantage in that the friars were late to arrive in western Europe and had a finite length of stay in Britain; their existence was compressed within three centuries. Their architectural and archaeological record falls between closely defined limits. The house of the Austin Friars at Leicester is both typical and exceptional. It stands on the edge of the town outside the west gate. Its history was uneventful though the friars continued to receive the support of the townsfolk throughout the house’s life. After the Dissolution the site was harshly treated and the excavation has rescued the traces of this house amid difficult physical conditions. The hazards of site disturbance mean that this report must concentrate upon the secular and economic aspects of the friary not upon the church and its ritual requirements.