Two projects unearthing Cumbria’s unique past are to feature on an upcoming BBC TV show.
The dig at Carlisle cricket club and the investigation into a medieval village at Lowther Castle, near Penrith all set to feature in Digging for Britian which is presented by Professor Alice Roberts.
For more than six years, Carlisle Cricket Club's Edenside ground has been yielding fascinating and long-lost secrets as archaeologists and volunteers continue the painstaking work of uncovering the site's Roman past.
Yet, just two days into a new dig at the site, where a huge Roman bathhouse with imperial connections was discovered, volunteers made the stunning discovery of two fantastically preserved two feet high effigies of heads which have been described as the ‘find of a lifetime’.
Professor Roberts visited the site for the TV show back in June and said that the finds made in Carlisle were ‘really exciting’.
“People are just really engaged by getting in touch with the history of Carlisle, they’re responsible for making new discoveries on a daily basis,” said Alice.
"It’s really exciting!
“This site is really waking people up to the exciting archaeology that there is here in Carlisle - (maybe) not waking people up to, but helping people get in touch with that heritage in a really physical way.
“I was really stunned at the size of the trench, and the archaeology in it - it’s an amazing site."
The project at Lowther aims to reveal how the Normans conquered and colonised the region and what this process was like for inhabitants, and to chart the origins of the Lowther estate.
Preliminary work suggests that the remains of Lowther’s medieval castle and its adjoining village may date to the late eleventh or early twelfth century.
If so, the site might provide rare evidence of the conquest of Cumbria by King William Rufus and his brother, King Henry I – a generation after the Normans seized control of the rest of England.
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In the programme, Professor Alice Roberts is joined by Medieval Historian, Sophie Ambler, who has been trawling through the Lowther Family’s personal medieval archive to uncover the secrets of this enigmatic forested fortress.
The BBC said: “What the team discover is rare and vital evidence for the little-known Norman effort to colonise and conquer the independent Kingdom of Cumbria.”
The episode is set to air on Tuesday, January 2 at 8pm.
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