Athelstan Project Gets Lottery Funding. Volunteers behind the Athelstan 1100 Big Dig project in Malmesbury are celebrating. The reason being the receipt of a grant of £14,540 for this unique community heritage project taking place in July.Â
The National Lottery Heritage Fund have awarded the grant, made possible by National Lottery players. The project will use it to fund the excavation of test pits in and around the town on Saturday and Sunday July 6 and 7.
Volunteers and the Malmesbury Town Team will work alongside experts. They hope to uncover evidence of the Anglo Saxons living in the area, as well as reveal other fascinating parts of the town’s history. The Athelstan 1100 Big Dig is part of a wider programme of events. to mark 1100 years since Athelstan became the First King of England. Athelstan had a close relationship with Malmesbury. He chose the abbey as his buriel place. Although the exact location of his burial remains a mystery.
The Athelstan 1100 Big Dig
The Athelstan 1100 Big Dig has a strong community focus. It’ll enable people of all ages, including local primary and secondary students to learn about being archaeologists and taking part in real excavations. Members of the Athelstan 1100 organising team will also be working alongside Cotswold Archaeology. The aim of that being to train budding archaeologists as well as to plan and organise the project.
Volunteers from the community will have an opportunity to get involved in the excavation and the recording and cleaning of finds. The weekend Big Dig Trail will enable visitors and people from the wider community to see what’s going on. And learn more about how archaeology works. All the finds will be on view after the day’s excavations. Participants will produce a report to explain their findings.
Many Malmesbury organisations are working together to bring the Athelstan 1100 project to life across the summer. This includes:
- Malmesbury Town Team
- The Malmesbury town council
- Athelstan Museum and …
- more than 70 other organisations and businesses who are giving time, practical support and resources to help celebrate the Anglo-Saxon heritage of the town and this important national anniversary.
King Athelstan
King Athelstan ascended to the throne in 924 and 100 years ago. In 1924 the whole of Malmesbury came out to celebrate King Athelstan’s 1000th anniversary. The community is doing the same in 2024.
Cllr Campbell Ritchie heads up the team organising the Athelstan 1100 project and also the Big Athelstan Dig.
‘We’re delighted to be able to offer so many events for the local, and wider Wiltshire community to enjoy across the summer of 2024. We’re very excited about the Big Dig. It’s a huge opportunity for us to try to understand an important part of town’s history.
‘Through learning the skills of archaeology and this hands on approach to heritage the hope is to get people of all ages engaged with town. And to be able to understand the Anglo Saxon influence in the town’s development,’ Cllr Ritchie said.
‘We’re thrilled to have received this support thanks to National Lottery players. We’re confident the project will engage local people and will help raise the profile of Malmesbury to a much wider audience.’ Cllr Ritchie added.
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