Great Bowden

Photograph by Jim Culkin

Great Bowden is situated in south Leicestershire, just under 2km northeast of Market Harborough and set just south of the A6, a major routeway, connecting Leicester to the northwest and Kettering to the southeast. The parish is partly bounded by Market Harborough to the south, the Grand Union Canal along the south-western boundary, Langton Brook along its northern side, which is also a tributary of the River Welland that also forms the majority of the eastern parish boundary.

Great Bowden is mentioned three times in the Domesday Book and was also the centre of a Royal Estate. The 13th century church is dedicated to St Peter and St Paul and it was also at this time that a second church was also first recorded - St Mary in Arden, which was later incorporated into Market Harborough before being abandoned in the 17th century to become a mortuary chapel only.

The 30 test pits that were excavated in the village of Great Bowden between July 2013 and July 2014 were organised and run by the Great Bowden Heritage and Archaeology Group through funding from the Heritage Lottery fund (HLF) through their Sharing Heritage programme.

The inital test pit results can be seen below, the full written report will be available here soon.