Kilwinning community archaeology project

An archaeology project is to take place in the centre of Kilwinning. The dig started on 18 August for 5 weeks. 

The 1st public meeting of the Kilwinning Community Archaeology Project was held on Thursday 22nd July in the Abbey Church Hall and was extremely well attended, with over 40 volunteer forms completed on the night.

The community archaeological project was conceived by Kilwinning & District Preservation Society and developed in the Kilwinning town regeneration plan to stimulate tourism and community activity within the burgh. The project includes excellent opportunities to link with education.

Having intially completed a feasibility study, Rathmell Archaeology has now been commissioned to support the project. Rathmell are keen to work with pupils from local schools and opportunities are currently being set up for schools to get involved.

The detailed plans are now being put in place for the work which will take place in August and September 2010, exploring the main historic remains in and around the town, including Kilwinning Abbey.

The project will cost £90,000, funded equally by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Irvine Bay, and with other support from North Ayrshire Council, Historic Scotland and West of Scotland Archaeology Service.

The core elements of the community-led project will be:

• archive research into the known evolution of the abbey and burgh;
• building a record of the fabric of the historic abbey;
• archaeological excavation around the burgh to investigate the origins of the secular settlement;
• archaeological excavation within the abbey to explore the evolution of the abbey buildings; and
• the use of oral history to record the personal accounts of the modern changes that have been wrought on Kilwinning’s townscape and environment.

Read more about the plans to dig into Kilwinning's past.

The next public meeting will be on Monday 4th October at 7pm again in the Abbey Church Hall to present the initial findings from the first field season.

You can follow more detailed progress of the dig on on Facebook. Check the Facebook page for info about volunteering opportunities.

I was delighted by the strong turnout at the project’s first public meeting, it was a very visible display of the interest the community has in discovering more about the past of Kilwinning and the Abbey. The number of volunteers who have already committed to the first season means that I am looking forward to a very busy five weeks of excavation and I have high hopes of the discoveries we will be able to make.  
Tom Rees, Rathmell Archaeology