// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
Medieval leprosy hospital uncovered in Lincoln
Lincoln Funfair is now held on the South Common twice a year
The walls of what is thought to be one of medieval England's earliest and largest leprosy hospitals have been uncovered in Lincoln by Time Team archaeologists.
A three-day dig started on Friday on the South Common at the site of the Hospital of the Holy Innocents, which housed up to 20 people with leprosy around the late 11th to early 12th Centuries.
Time Team's Prof Carenza Lewis said they had found traces of square features where it is thought people were housed, which "haven't been excavated before, anywhere".
The dig marks the beginning of a three-year project backed by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The remains of the building were found last year during a Local Landscapes and Hidden Histories project.
More than 100 volunteers were involved in excavating test pits which uncovered what were thought to be the medieval boundary walls of the hospital.
An ancient wall is visible for the first time in hundreds of years
Time Team carried out a geophysical survey of the area, like an X-ray of the ground, and volunteers have dug a 30m-long (98ft) trench to join up the two test pits where traces of the walls were found.
Lewis said a wall runs all the way down the trench and either side of it, according to the survey.