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Community Archaeology reveals 19th-century house
A recent community excavation in Belfast has revealed the remains of a 19th-century house and the partial layout of the Victorian streets in the area. Run by Community Archaeology Programme Northern Ireland (CAPNI) – an initiative by Queen’s University Belfast with funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund – the dig saw local schoolchildren, community volunteers, and archaeologists come together for two weeks to learn more about Belfast’s past.
Dr Colm Donnelly, who led the dig, said: ‘We have had a really fantastic fortnight on Distillery Street. Using maps of the local area, we set our sights on locating some of the city’s hidden history. We have now discovered the remains of a house on what was Venice Street, and we can pinpoint where Turin Street and Pisa Street were located. We’ve also found a range of 19th-century artefacts, including pottery, and this gives us a really great insight into what life was like for those living on these streets at the time.’
Blue plaque for Ralegh Radford
On 16 May, the Uffculme History Group celebrated the life and work of archaeologist Ralegh Radford (1900-1998) with the unveiling of a blue plaque on Culmcott, the house in Uffculme, Devon, where he lived for nearly 50 years. Director of the British School at Rome between 1936 and 1945, he led excavations at many notable sites across Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall, including Castle Dore, Glastonbury, and Tintagel, and is often considered the last of the ‘gentlemen archaeologists’.
To learn more about his work, look to CA 128, in which Richard Hodges interviewed Ralegh in the wake of his 90th birthday.
Major excavation of Wogan Cavern to commence
Preliminary excavations of Wogan Cavern at Pembroke Castle, carried out between 2021 and 2024, revealed remarkable evidence of its prehistoric human inhabitants as well as its fauna, including the remains of a hippopotamus that roamed Wales 120,000 years ago. Now, thanks to funding from the Calleva Foundation, a major archaeology project that will see the first large-scale excavation of the site has begun.
Dr Rob Dinnis from the University of Aberdeen, who is leading the initiative, said: ‘We are optimistic that the cave can chart a long sequence of human activity, from hunter-gatherers living there immediately after the last Ice Age around 11,500 years ago, back to Britain’s earliest Homo sapiens between 45,000 and 35,000 years ago, and maybe also earlier traces likely left by Neanderthals.’
Text: Kathryn Krakowka / Photo: Queen’s University Belfast
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