Chance to explore rich history of Lincolnshire's landscape

Heritage Lincolnshire, a charity based in Heckington, is providing exciting opportunities for fieldwalking in a project called ‘Layers Of History’.

The project, which has won funding from the National Lottery, gives people the chance to explore the rich history of the Lincolnshire landscape around them.

Training events, workshops and study site days are being held for anyone interested in learning about the non-destructive archaeological techniques used to reveal the history buried beneath their feet.

Beverley Gormley, senior project officer, said: “‘Layers Of History’ is a volunteer-led project with a difference.

“We don’t tell you what to do. We give you some ideas and then you tell us what you want to do.

“Once volunteers have signed up, they can get stuck in as much or as little as they like.

“We’re about to carry out fieldwalking at Hainton, at the crash site of a Lancaster Bomber, and also at Hackthorn, at the site of a grange belonging to Bullington Priory.

“It will be exciting to see what the volunteers find, so get in touch if you want to get involved.”

Fieldwalking is one of the least intrusive means of rapidly assessing the archaeological potential of an area.

Teams walk across open areas of recently ploughed fields, gathering artefacts such as pottery or flint from the surface. These artefacts are then processed and catalogued, leading to data that is analysed to identify ‘hotspots’.

‘Layers Of History’, which is halfway through its three-year term, is costing £600,000 and has been generously supported not only by the Heritage Lottery Fund but also by Lincolnshire County Council, West Lindsey District Council, the Armed Forces Community Covenant and the Lincolnshire Wolds Countryside Service.

Volunteers have already carried out lots of research on Revesby Estate. Until the end of this year, the focus is on study sites at South Ormsby Estate, Hainton Estate, Hackthorn and Aslackby before a switch to other sites in 2019.

Anyone can get involved, from taking an online course to getting out and about on study site days or learning about archival research, Lincolnshire’s geology and much more in a classroom setting.

You can join the ‘Layers Of History’ team for a volunteer taster morning at Hainton on Thursday, September 27, followed by an afternoon of fieldwalking. Book your place or find out more by e-mailing [email protected]