Gloucester Cathedral archaeological dig begins

Archaeologists have begun digging next to the cathedral ahead of a major redevelopment

Work to dig four trial archaeological trenches at Gloucester Cathedral has begun ahead of a £6m redevelopment.

The dig in the car park in Upper College Green and south of the building aims to establish if there is anything significant that could be disturbed.

The area is to be landscaped as part of a 10-year plan, known as Project Pilgrim, to improve facilities at the medieval building.

If anything significant is discovered the plans could be altered slightly.

Cathedral archaeologist Richard Morriss said: "What we're trying to do is understand what's beneath the ground."

"For the [proposed] scheme, we don't want to disturb the archaeology, so the less we find the better."

Mr Morris said the four trial trenches were being dug at "hotspots" of the planned landscape design, where the work would go deepest.

"We can then judge if that scheme is going to work, or if we'll have to tickle it a little bit," he said.

Kath Crooks from Border Archaeology said: "We're pretty certain we'll find some burials but it's the depth of the burials that we're trying to find out."