Community archaeology in Greater Manchester

People from Greater Manchester have the chance to excavate their local history

The University of Salford is now in the second year of the biggest community archaeology project ever conducted in Greater Manchester.

We’re running Dig Greater Manchester, a four-year project that will provide an opportunity for every borough in the region to get involved in excavating its past.

Digs have already taken place in Stockport, Bury and Oldham, taking in historic industrial sites, and Victorian and medieval manor houses.

In the coming year the Centre for Applied Archaeology will be in Bolton, Salford and Manchester and we’re already taking volunteers for the Bolton event in March

What’s behind dig Greater Manchester?

Dig Greater Manchester is a project intended to create an opportunity for the local communities in the Greater Manchester region to get involved in a variety of ways in their own history and heritage. The University of Salford and the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities are providing the chance for thousands of Greater Manchester residents to actually get 'hands on' experience of an archaeological excavation in a safe and healthy environment.

We will also provide a learning opportunity with sessions on archaeological techniques during the excavations but there will also as separate one-day courses when techniques such as archaeological building surveys, geophysical surveys, and artefact analysis will be taught. These will be complimented with a series of lectures on aspects of local and regional history and archaeology. All of these things are free of charge; you just have to get yourself to the venues.

The final Saturday of each excavation will be a public open day where people will have the opportunity to take part in guided tours of the sites and there will be site based activities such as family history, crafts stalls and a small trench where children with their parents can have a go at excavations.

Get involved

You can keep up with all the latest on Dig Greater Manchester and our other archaeology work by following the team on Twitter, Facebook and Flickr

You can also be put on a mailing list to be informed about when we have a dig coming up in your area - email us now