WE DID IT

WE DID IT!

DIGGING THE WALL

Main image Looking east along a stretch of Hadrian’s Wall near Birdoswald Roman Fort Left Archaeologists from Historic England and Newcastle University excavate the Roman settlement east of the fort Above Les and Jane Gill

Communications volunteer Gillian Sulley catches up with Birdoswald Roman Fort tour guide volunteers Les and Jane Gill, to hear about their summer of tour guiding.

It’s mid-August, on the day that the downpours are forecast after the latest hot spell. To be continued Les and Jane began as site monitors in 2020 and shortly afterwards joined the Humidity and threatening clouds are not putting off visitors to Hadrian’s

Wall site Birdoswald, and it’s as busy as ever at this popular spot close to the Cumbrian border. For the second year running there has been an extra element to the experience here. Four trenches have been excavated by archaeology students from Newcastle University in association with English Heritage and

Historic England. There’s a buzz around new evidence of a Roman bathhouse, previously thought to be part of a signal tower. Sharing the news

Les and Jane Gill prove that volunteering can be a family affair. As husband and wife, they join forces to lead tours. Jane concentrates on the wider social context of life on the edge of the Roman Empire, whilst

Les focuses on the stonework and ruined buildings. There’s also a strong ‘landscape archaeology’ theme FIND OUT MORE focusing on the wider context To learn more about the project of location and how people used visit www.birdoswaldproject.com the surrounding environment. Birdoswald team in time to lead tours incorporating the digs. ‘Visitor reaction has been really positive,’ says Les. ‘We’ve sensed how much they have enjoyed the tours this year and there is an increase in the number of tour participants when the trenches are part All the crew of the route'. Of course, there are and students benefits for the guides too. are lovely and As Jane explains, ‘It’s been great fun: all the crew and you learn an students are lovely and you awful lot learn an awful lot. As with last year, the volunteers toured the site with visitors and brought them to the trenches, where they handed over to the students and archaeologists for interpretation of the excavations.’ The excavations have now finished for this year and will return to Birdoswald in 2023. The volunteers eagerly await further developments to share with their visitors. ■