Students to create audio tour as part of a city council conservation project

A £1.6 million initiative to conserve and regenerate the historic Greyfriars area of the city will include a walk-through audio guide created by students from the School of Archaeology and Ancient History.

Made famous by University archaeologists in 2012 following the discovery of King Richard III, Greyfriars was once the thriving legal hub of the city and is still home to numerous law firms to this day.

Now, five students are contributing to the Greyfriars Townscape Heritage Initiative – a project run by Leicester City Council which aims to enhance and conserve the area.

Nick Mellor, 19, Beth Potts, 21, Joe Bartholomew, 19, Petur Hansen, 22, and William Johnson, 20 - who are tutored by Dr Jo Appleby - will use archives and newspaper reports dating back more than 300 years to create the tour.

They will present their work at a seminar at the University this month (December), with full details of the project being submitted in January.

At the end of the project, the audio guide and walking trail will be made available to the public.

Over the next five years, the project will see at least 20 of the most historically important buildings in the area to the south of Leicester Cathedral restored and regenerated.