Malmesbury's Big Athelstan Dig Delivers!

Over 150 first time archaeologists and hundreds of visitors experienced archaeology in practice as part of Malmesbury's Big Athelstan Dig. Thirteen test pits were dug at sites all over Malmesbury under the guidance of professional archaeologists from Cotswold Archaeology while visitors could see the digs progressing and the finds being brought back to the Finds Centre in the Town Hall.

At the same time an important announcement was made about recent finds during development work in the centre of Malmesbury. This revealed an unexpected graveyard with dating and finds which Malmesbury based historian and author Tony McAleavy described as 'literally transforming our understanding of the birth of Malmesbury Abbey in the seventh and eight centuries. The BBC report is

here: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cnk4xekngdgo

Speaking about the Malmesbury's Big Athelstan Dig, project leader Kim Power said: We had a such a great weekend. It was super to give so many residents and visitors, including pupils from local schools, their first close up look at archaeology and there have been some great finds which are now being analysed by the professionals at Cotswold Archaeology. I would like to thank everyone who took part, the site owners who let us dig, Phil Harding for his visit and encouragement, the National Lottery Heritage Fund for their support and team from Cotswold Archaeology for their expert guidance, energy and enthusiasm. We're looking forward to getting the results back so we can tell more of Malmesbury's rich story'