The award-winning Uncovering Roman Carlisle (URC) has returned to Carlisle’s Roman Bathhouse for a short mini-archaeological dig.
Archaeologists and volunteers hope to excavate a so far unexplored part of the site to discover the size of the original bathhouse, now thought the be the largest building on Hadrian’s Wall. The true size of the building (currently estimated at 60m by 50m) is one the remaining mysteries of the site.
The dig at Carlisle Cricket Club started on Tuesday 30 July and will take place until Saturday 3 August. Volunteers will be on site each day to speak to visitors between 10am and 4pm.
Limited spaces are available for volunteers. No prior experience in archaeology is needed, just enthusiasm in learning about Carlisle’s past. Find out more on the Uncovering Roman Carlisle website or book directly
So far, in 2024, around 5000 have visited the site and 800 school pupils have been to see the site (and counting) from schools all over Cumbria.
This project is delivered by a partnership of Cumberland Council, Carlisle Cricket Club, Tullie, and Wardell Armstrong LLP.
A small temporary exhibition will coincide with the mini-dig in the Carlisle Tourist Information Centre.
Uncovering Roman Carlisle has received funding from the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. Wardell Armstrong LLP alongside Cumberland Council, Tullie, and Carlisle Cricket Club would like to get as many people to visit in this incredible project as possible.
Frank Giecco, Technical Director at Wardell Armstrong, said:
“Its exciting news that we are back on site sooner than I had thought, at quite short notice we have been able to organise a mini-dig.
“The excavation will target the northeast corner of the site. The size and scale of the full building is still a bit of a mystery, so it’s great to be looking in an area that’s mostly not been explored before to try and answer some more questions about the site. Already what has been found there has been fascinating, it's in the area of the upper terrace, where there were parts in 2021 that were excavated which had a lovely pebble floor surface. This dig might perhaps even provide us the opportunity to discover the eastern extent of the building we can hope! Finding the section of the eastern side to the Severan building would be fantastic!
“We have about 20 volunteers on site each day to help out, and we are very happy to be welcoming people from Cumberland and beyond back to the site for this mini dig.
“Already some lovely pieces of stamped amphora have been discovered, and coins have come out, including post-Roman coins such as a coin to King George 1st, with a rather nice thistle! The story of Carlisle, and even of wider British History, can be found here in the discoveries at the site.
“This dig is very small and very short, but we’d love for visitors to come down and see what we’re doing. We also hope to return to the site in autumn, and next year, so there will be future opportunities to come, which we’ll advertise through the website.”
URC has so far won four awards, three archaeological achievement awards from the Council for British Archaeology (CBA) and an award from the Society for Museum Archaeology for the 2023 exhibition. URC featured on the most recent series of BBC’s Digging for Britain with Prof Alice Roberts.
Discoveries by The Diggers has been essential in uncovering over 3000 significant finds. Among these; 600+ Roman coins from centuries of occupation, 800+ hair pins, Imperial stamped tiles (tiles literally fit for an emperor), North African style vaulting tubes for roof construction, hundreds of stunning glass beads, gaming pieces, even a rare Roman doll’s foot. Significantly, 70 intaglios have been discovered in the drains. These are magnificently carved gemstones which dropped from Roman signet rings when the glue holding them melted in the bathhouse heat. In 2023, two monumental and unique carved stone heads were discovered by a volunteer on their first ever excavation. In 2024, to the south of the Roman Bathhouse, a Roman burial ground was discovered, including a cremation burial which is undergoing conservation.