Bourton on the Hill Open Day

Today Urban Archaeology and LP Archaeology held an open day at our excavations at Bourton on the Hill in the Cotswolds. Despite the weather early on being rather dreich we had a steady flow of visitors who viewed the medieval buildings and a selection of our finds, and could ask questions of the site team. And by the afternoon it was a beautiful autumnal day.

It was great to meet a lot of the locals and talk with them about their village and archaeology. It’s a great site and it is really important to us to share the findings with those living in the area, as well as the wider public and archaeological community. You always get more out of these days than you put in, and today was no exception: we have learned a great deal about the village and its environs and have a long list of sites and buildings to visit. For me one highlight was talking to locals who had experience of building using the local stone –they were universal in their appreciation of the quality of the medieval stone working, and gave new insights into the construction techniques.

We’ll stick some photos of the open day up when we get a chance, and we’ll keep on writing posts of the latest developments on site as and when they occur. After the dig has finished we’ve promised to arrange a local talk on the excavation findings, and we’ll keep on updating the blog throughout the post-excavation process so everyone can keep up with what we are learning about the site.

So thank you to everyone who made it down to the site, and finally many thanks to Cornelius, Lee, Nessie, Stel and Rudi for helping make the open day such a success.