Despite excellent exhibitions and galleries in local museums such as Tullie, the presence of Hadrian’s Wall in Carlisle has not necessarily been visible or accessible to many residents in the city, an opportunity to change this was presented with the unexpected discovery of Carlisle’s Roman Bathhouse in 2017, at Carlisle Cricket Club.

Beginning in 2021, Uncovering Roman Carlisle has been a program of community archaeology and engagement centred around exploration of Carlisle’s Roman Bathhouse delivered by a partnership of Carlisle Cricket Club, Cumberland Council, Tullie, and Wardell Armstrong. Most importantly, the project relies on and exists because of a large unconstituted group of volunteers, self-titled as The Diggers.

This talk explores the impact of the community archaeological project, in particular the experiences of the volunteers who have enabled it to happen. We hear their own words, focussing upon the artefacts they discovered and the object biographies which they contributed to creating.