I grew up shooting bows and arrows at Montfitchet Castle and rolling down the earthworks of an Iron-Age Hill Fort in my local woodland. Adventure-seeking and ever-curious, I would spend ages in the forest looking for clues in the landscape or digging at the beach for dinosaur fossils. I was obsessed with Knights, Robin Hood, Jurassic Park as well as my grandad’s history books and, much to my parents’ dismay, I never stopped asking “why” or seeking to connect the dots. This spirit of exploration took me around the world working as an outdoor-sports instructor or volunteering with conservation charities. Immersing myself in local archaeology, stories and folklore helped develop a relationship with both the natural and historic environment in places as diverse as Angkor Wat in Cambodia to the Landscapes of the Miwok peoples in Yosemite Valley and the Siera Nevadas. I was able to share this knowledge on kayaking tours and mountaineering expeditions which is incredibly fulfilling.

I have spent more of my spare time than I should freely admit researching Mesolithic & Neolithic sites, attending lectures or volunteer digs and as a trained waterman, working around the ocean and waterways, I have studied maritime archaeology copiously. But it was the opportunity for this apprenticeship with the National Trust Archaeology team in London and The South-East that enabled me to fulfil a dream and enact a career change. My experience within this role has been great and I would encourage both the sector and people looking to get professionally involved with heritage or archaeology to champion these opportunities. The real-world acquisition and application of skills and techniques as well as the speed at which you have to develop a grasp of the academic knowledge, creates an environment in which you can develop quickly.

My role is essentially to protect and conserve the rich archaeology of our sites so that they can be enjoyed by everyone now and in the future. We achieve this through archaeological investigations in collaboration with community groups and contractors, sharing and interpreting our research for visitors or volunteers and local communities, carefully managing change, monitoring our buildings or sites and making adroit recommendations to property and project staff on any new works/ initiatives. Really and truthfully, there is no regular day. Each task and responsibility is just as diverse as the history of our sites. We could be addressing WWII defensive structures one day and responding to burrowing animals in a Bronze-age round barrow the next. I guess that variety is what I love most. It’s a puzzle at times and I love rising to a challenge.

I plan to continue working on archaeological investigations which develop our understanding and interpretations of old sites as well as discovering new ones. Using this research to aid in heritage conservation and promote more inter-connected schemes and projects. I would love nothing more than to do this within the National Trust as it combines my passion for archaeology with nature conservation. Our team leaders always say that archaeologists understand change best of all and with the current climate emergency, we can use our skills to help in the protection of landscapes and delivery of more bio-diverse ecosystems. Maybe I’ll go into environmental archaeology? But it’s also my passion to help develop community archaeology programmes that will make the joy of the historic environment as well as the life and scientific skills accessible to diverse range of audiences.

See you this summer in the trenches 😊