Well it's been an exciting few months since I started working as Festival of Archaeology Co-ordinator in January 2019 - never a dull day!
As well as moderating the Festival of Archaeology website, creating blogs and writing articles for various publications my role has also involved travelling to visit our partners in Historic England's Heritage Action Zones
Travelling to sunny Weston-super- Mare, part of Great Weston Heritage Action Zone was an exciting experience, seeing at first hand the proximity of the fabulous Iron Age Hill fort and then exploring the iconic artefacts in Weston Museum.
Another day I travelled to Walworth Heritage Action Zone to discover the story of the amazing Cuming Museum. Although the museum is now closed as in 2013 a fire badly damaged the museum, the artefacts can be see online here and the curator has a great blog here
Seeing the Newcomen Beam Engine and discussing activities for the Festival of Archaeology with colleagues from the Elsecar Heritage Centre, part of Elsecar Heritage Action Zone, was another great day. I found that being in the first Industrial model village in Yorkshire built by the FitzWilliam earls was breathtaking.
Walking through Bishop Auckland High Street, part of Bishop Auckland Heritage Action Zone, past the statue of the great comic Stan Laurel, and seeing such a variety of great historic architecture was a real treat. Bishop Auckland Town Hall really is an amazing building and Auckland Castle looks fantastic.
However, perhaps the "icing on the cake", no pun intended, has been organising the #Archaeocake competition. Tweeting images of previous #archaeocake entries has been a mouthwatering exercise. Unfortunately, the technology to enable tasting virtual cake has yet to be invented - but I can imagine the flavours of the Viking ship (winner of the competition in 2017).... and maybe one day #Archaeotech may enable #Archaeocake to be sampled!
Contact details
Festival Coordinator
CBA