Thomas Rees, Rathmell Archaeology Ltd
Tom Rees began his talk by explaining his intention to give an insight into the design and delivery of the Can You Dig It? project, under the Galloway Glens Landscape Partnership Scheme.
Landscape Partnership Schemes are a National Heritage Lottery Fund initiative seeking to deliver public benefit in three areas – access, natural heritage and cultural heritage. Each partnership focuses on a distinct geographical area, in this case the area is the route of the rivers Dee and Ken from their sources to the sea – the ‘Galloway Glens’ from Carsphairn to Kirkcudbright. In all the Galloway Glens LPS is undertaking 35 projects in this area, of which the Can You Dig It? community archaeology project is one. The work involved has been undertaken by volunteers supported by professional archaeologists. Funding to match the NHLF input came from Historic Environment Scotland. Landowners have also been supportive, as have the National Trust for Scotland, Forestry and Land Scotland and the Forest Estate, while Dumfries and Galloway Council, initiators of the project, have been supportive throughout.
The project commenced in early 2019 with a series of talks to introduce a series of sub-projects developed with community input and designed to encourage interest in local cultural heritage through participation in fieldwork and related activities. These projects included test-pit excavations at Castledykes and Moat Brae castles in Kirkcudbright. On-site projects such as this develop archaeological skills and engage people with their heritage. Care was taken to remove any obstacles which may deter people taking part, so working arrangements were flexible and facilities were provided with an awareness of the potential needs of participants.
A larger 10-day excavation was undertaken at Little Wood Hill on the Threave Estate in September 2019. Aerial photography has previously revealed a D-shaped Iron Age enclosure on top of the hill and excavation focused on the terminals of the surrounding ditch at the entrance to the enclosure, in expectation of finding further material evidence for the occupation of the site. Unexpectedly, an assemblage of struck flint was found indicating late Neolithic/early Bronze Age occupation on the hill, but more remarkably a burnt hazelnut yielded a Carbon-14 date of around 8400 BC in the early Mesolithic period.
Activities in 2019 also included workshops, developing surveying skills at Kelton kirkyard, finds identification and interpretation and web-based research using resources such as early maps and the 1st-edition Ordnance Survey series.
Another major on-site project was the survey and excavation of Upper Gairloch deserted farmstead on the Raiders Road. With the professional assistance of Claire Williamson (Rathmell Archaeology) a team of volunteers cleared the site to expose the surviving walls and floors of a mid-19th-century rectangular courtyard enclosing two buildings. A second visit to the site cleared an adjacent kiln barn for drying grain. A remarkable 3-D model of this was later generated from site photographs at a 3-D modelling techniques workshop, designed to introduce participants to this skill.
Overall, the project sought collaboration with existing community groups or initiatives, exemplified by the Barrhill Woods Historic Woodland Assessment carried out by Coralie Mills in partnership with Kirkcudbright Development Trust, which is in the process of taking the woodland into community ownership. This project included offering tours of the wood as well as the production of a final report which will be a vital resource for future interpretation.
Partnership projects were also undertaken at Polmaddy deserted fermtoun, and on the investigation of aircraft crash sites in the Glenkens hills. Partnership projects were also undertaken with the Kirkcudbright volunteer group in the Scotland’s Rock Art Project (ScRAP) and with Solway Firth Partnership.
The project expected to continue with sub-projects of the type described above, but with a lighter professional input to encourage the development of local projects within the community and the application of new skills learnt. However, the onset of Covid restrictions in 2020 prevented that. Rather than suspend the project, it was decided to remodel it in order to continue activity, but now based on online resources or family group fieldwork to comply with national regulations.
The project remodelling was carried out by Claire Williamson and Helen Keron (Galloway Glens) and included the following activities. Firstly, an online programme of fortnightly webinars on different topics was offered, including ‘in conversation’ sessions – talking to professionals about their work or about particular projects. Fifteen free events of this type were arranged, attracting 3,200 ticket ‘sales’. The ‘My Galloway’ project encouraged people to add images or text to the HES’s ‘Canmore’ website. ‘Video log’ tours were produced covering the area’s Royal Observer Corps posts within the area; sites with Covenanter associations and the Woodhead Lead Mines. The ‘Are We There Yet?’ project encouraged participants to check the location and survival of historic milestones in the area, relying on online 1st-edition OS maps and personal or family fieldwork. Around one third were found to have survived and information from the project was passed to the Council’s archaeologist for recording in the Historic Environment Record. A similar map-based project, was the ‘Lost Wells of Galloway’ project, where participants were allocated an OS map area and asked to identify recorded named wells, and research any information about them and/or carry out a field visit. Forty participants took part in this, including people based outwith the region.
Throughout, the Can You Dig It? projects have attracted national and local media interest, and have even inspired a winning entry, based on the Upper Gairloch excavation, in an international poetry competition.
Tom Rees concluded by saying that although no on-site activity had been possible in the past year, nevertheless Can You Dig It?, through its community volunteers, has continued to enrich our understanding of the cultural heritage of the Galloway Glens. Looking forward, the project will continue to build skills in the community and promote the area’s heritage, returning to on-site fieldwork but also continuing online activities. He recommended that all future community archaeology projects should aim to blend on-site excavation or survey work with online research in order to reach the widest spectrum of participants and offer the widest range of activities.
D.F.D.