Over the last few years the Geopark team has created a range of teaching resources for local schools, many of which are based on the incredible history of Charnwood Forest. These resources – which you can find on our website – bring our region’s history directly into the classroom. But this summer, we decided to do things a little differently, and so we created an amazing opportunity for local students to literally uncover some of our history for themselves. In the summer of 2024, we invited former Time Team archaeologist Professor Carenza Lewis from the University of Lincoln to lead an archaeological excavation that would allow local schoolchildren to do just that. Following consultation with Leicestershire County Council, we chose to focus on Beaumanor Park in Woodhouse – a really exciting site spanning hundreds of years of occupation. The current Beaumanor Hall was built in the nineteenth century, and is at least the fourth building to have been constructed on the site.
For three days in May, guided by the University of Lincoln team and Geopark staff and volunteers, almost fifty Year 9 and 10 students from four local schools set about digging 1m2 test pits in ten locations that had already been identified by Professor Lewis. The programme included full training on test pit excavation, recording observations and artefact handling and cleaning. A finds room was set up which quickly started filling up with objects from the test pits, and on the final day of the dig, the students shared their results with the whole group.
In December, Professor Lewis returned to Beaumanor Hall to share the results of the excavation. More than 90 people enjoyed mince pies and mulled wine courtesy of the Geopark and Leicestershire County Council before sitting down to hear about the summer dig. Professor Lewis gave an overview of test-pit archaeology, before talking through the finds from each test pit. These included pre-historic worked flints, taking the human history of the site considerably further back in time than had previously been understood. Highlights included medieval glass and beautiful Delft tiles that came from the earlier versions of the hall, and WWII military communications wires that date from Beaumanor’s time as a station for intercepting enemy radio transmissions.
The students were delighted to learn that their excavation would be recorded in just the same way as any archaeological survey, and that the results would become part of the official record of the history of Beaumanor Hall. Professor Lewis is currently writing up her report, and we hope to able to share elements of that with you soon. We also hope to be able to bring some of the finds back to Beaumanor once the reporting phase is complete.
