Prolonged hot, dry weather this summer has revealed the buried foundations of a 15th Century hunting lodge at Manor Park in Sheffield, offering a rare glimpse of the site's earliest known building. The lodge, first recorded in 1479 when George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury, paid for its repair, was dismantled more than 300 years ago, but underground remains are now visible in the parched grass because buried structures affect how plants grow above them. Experts say the discovery highlights both the hidden depth of the city's history and the growing impact of climate change on heritage sites.

The hunting lodge predates the Tudor manor built later on the same site, where Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned during the 1570s and 1580s; only the Turret House survives from that later building today. Archaeological digs in the 1960s and 1970s uncovered glass, pottery and deer bones, suggesting the lodge was a luxurious retreat where the Earl and his guests hunted away from Sheffield Castle. Dr Hannah Wallace of the Green Estate said she had never seen the remains so clearly visible in five years working there, while Dr Camilla Allen of the University of Sheffield noted that persistent drought is revealing how differently people lived in the city centuries ago.