Early excavations for Bradford’s multi-million pound City Park project have given engineers a fascinating glimpse of Bradford’s past.

Metal rails from the city’s former tram system and artefacts from previously demolished buildings are among the items that have been unearthed.

One of the more striking discoveries was that of ornate lion heads, carved from stone, which are thought to have once adorned buildings that were demolished nearly 40 years ago.

Work to build the £24.4 million mirror pool City Park started in December and already dramatic changes have been made to the city’s skyline, with the partial demolition of the former police station opening up new views across the city.

Councillor Adrian Naylor, Bradford Council’s executive member for regeneration, said: “It’s fascinating looking through the old plans and looking at how the city has changed over the centuries.

“We conducted an archaeological survey before starting work on the city park and are expecting to find many artefacts and references to Bradford’s history. We are currently working to see if we can put these on display or put on an exhibition showcasing many of these great finds.”

At an event held to allow school teachers to learn about the city park, project engineer Niall Bourke outlined how digging up the city centre had unearthed aspects of Bradford’s intriguing history.

The first historical artefacts workers encountered were the metal rails from the city’s former tram system, which ran from the late 19th century to 1950.

Although the last tram reached the terminus 60 years ago, the rails had remained just below the surface until now.

Below the rails and the electric cabling, the team discovered pieces of stone, basement walls and items from previously demolished buildings lying just under the surface.

Mr Bourke, of engineering company Arup, said: “Urban regeneration has been going on for centuries. The city centre has been redeveloped countless times and previously demolished buildings have been used for rubble under new buildings.”

Stone lion heads and curved corbels were found in the centre of the City Park site by Yorkshire Water, which is laying a new water main.

It is believed that the lion heads could be from the Provincial Buildings which were demolished in 1973.