Results from the Big Dig at the Old King’s Head

 

The leaves are turning golden, the wind is starting to blow, and the Big Dig at the Old King’s Head has come to an end.

As our fantastic volunteer diggers will know, we have found a huge amount during this short dig.  Such finds include: a Victorian cess pit, antique beer bottles, burnt posts, Victorian drains, butchered animal bones, Medieval pot sherds, Medieval glassware, buried pathways, and Victorian building material.

We have had volunteers of all ages and from all backgrounds coming onsite to help us in this project.  We want to say a big thank you to everyone who got involved – diggers, finds washers, supervising adults and geophysicists alike.  It has been fantastic to be working with so many members of the local community – all of whom care deeply about the Old King’s Head.  Please keep an eye open for any future community archaeology projects we have running!  Thanks must also go to the major funders of this project – the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Mick Aston Archaeology Fund.

An added bonus has been how many people have become more interested in archaeology through the project, from teachers wanting to get their schools involved to archaeologist career-starters going from volunteer to APS employee!

But, what happens next?

The last day on site is staff only.  We will ensure that all recording and paperwork is accurate, and then backfill in the trenches.  This will be followed by the office based post-excavation work, sorting, analysing and reporting on the finds, records and photographs.  This will be used to create a site report, which we will make publically available to anyone who is interested.

Whilst we are busy doing this, Heritage Lincolnshire will be taking back control of the building.  They will then start preparing for the restoration works, which will start  in early 2019.