Fieldwork Opportunities

Merseyside Archaeological Society offers its members an opportunity to take part in primary archaeological research and to acquire the relevant skills.

This is real archaeology which helps us to discover the past, our ancestors and the world in which they lived. With coaching, members can gain real "hands on" experience in various aspects of practical archaeology.

With the introduction of the UK Government’s PPG16 (Planning Policy Guidance 16: Archaeology and Planning) in 1990, the opportunities for amateur societies to undertake invasive archaeology, such as excavations, reduced greatly. So the Society has also undertaken archaeological projects which use non-invasive techniques such as churchyard recording, and expanded its activities towards other goals such as education.

If you would like to get involved or find out more about fieldwork activities, please contact us.

Current Fieldwork Projects

Graveyard Survey at All Saints Church, Childwall Abbey Road, Childwall

Visitors will have the opportunity to learn the skills required to record a graveyard. The results of our work to date will be on display and there will be the opportunity to gain hands on skills and meet members of the Society. No prior experience is necessary. Everyone welcome.

In April 2009, the Department of Continuing Education at Liverpool University, in conjunction with Merseyside Archaeological Society, ran a course on the techniques involved in surveying graveyards. The course was based at All Saints Church, Childwall, and was attended by about a dozen people. The course and the venue proved so interesting that the Society started a project last summer to record the whole of the churchyard. This involved plotting every grave onto a plan, photographing every monument and recording the detail of each gravestone or memorial. To date about 10% of the churchyard has been recorded and the details of about 250 18th and 19th-century graves and their 622 occupants entered onto a database which is retained at The Field Archaeology Unit at Liverpool Museum.

We are now beginning to generate some statistics from the information gathered. Firstly, most monuments are 19th century despite being in the historic core, not very surprising but at least now based on evidence.  What looks interesting is that there seems to be a greater proportion of females commemorated in the later 19th century.  Quite what this tells us we are not sure.  It could be that females made up a greater % of the population (one would need to look at parish registers to check that) and that there was a greater tendency to commemorate them later on.  Secondly, only one out of five inscriptions in the early 18th century relates to females, which could be a random pattern in the data or it could mean that women were less likely to be commemorated on 18th century memorials. This could be a real effect as it looks as if there’s a gradual change from the late 18th to mid 19th centuries, but we need more data to be sure.

We would like to hear from anyone who has carried out a similar survey in the north-west. The project will continue in the Spring and if anybody is interested in helping with recording please get in touch. No prior experience is required (hyperlink).

Past Fieldwork Projects

Community Archaeology Event at Speke Hall

Between 16th and 20th July 2009 National Trust volunteers and members of Merseyside Archaeological Society, under the guidance of Carolanne King an Assistant Archaeologist with The National Trust, hosted archaeological activities at Speke Hall.

The main activity was to open 3 small trenches to see if traces could be found of farm buildings thought to be contemporary with the building of the Hall in the late 16th century. The farm buildings were demolished in the 1890s. Using an overlay from the 1st edition of the Ordnance Survey map it was possible to determine the position of the 3-winged farm building.

A trench was laid out across the line of each wing. Although there was neither the time nor the resources to mount a full investigation the remains of floor surfaces were uncovered in two of the three trenches. There were no significant finds but the exercise proved the potential of the site for future study. On the Saturday, the excavation team was joined by members of the Merseyside and Dee Young Archaeologists Club who commandeered the use of one of our trenches for the day. Much fun was had by all.

Other activities on site included guiding the public around the excavation and explaining what we were looking for and what had been found. People were invited to take part in the construction of a wattle and daub wall using willow and clay. There was an exhibition of archival material manned by National Trust volunteers and a popular finds processing exercise. The event was well supported with over 1000 visitors attending during the weekend.