Launching the Battle of Philiphaugh Community Project!

Hello Selkirk!

Let me introduce myself. My name is Natasha Ferguson from the Centre for Battlefield Archaeology, University of Glasgow and I will be directing the archaeological aspect of the Battle of Philiphaugh Community Project.  We are very excited to be involved with the project and looking forward to investigating the archaeology of the battlefield with the good people of Selkirk.

I have set up this blog to act as a kind of field diary so that when we are out doing fieldwork you can see how the project is progressing day by day. You will be able to hear about and see our recent discoveries on the battlefield from metal detector survey, geophysical survey and excavation! I will post to the blog daily each evening (after we've had our tea and maybe a pint!).

The blog will also allow you to keep updated about forthcoming events, which you might like to get involved with. Last Thursday (28th April) we successfully launched the project with an open evening in the Victoria Halls. We had a great turnout and lots of very enthusiastic volunteers.

Our first phase of field work will be a metal detector survey on what we believe to be the main area of the battlefield (the archaeology may prove us wrong!). This will take place:
Thursday 12th - Sunday 15th May and then again the next week, Thursday 19th - Sunday 22nd.
We do already have a strong body of volunteers for this phase assisting with metal detecting and recording the finds, however please do come and see us in action! I'm sure you can't miss us. Come and talk to the archaeologists, share your stories of the battlefield and if you have any battlefield artefacts found in the area please let us know! We would love to see them.

If you can't make this part of the project you can take part in other events or investigations. If you would like to be included in the mailing list, please email me natasha.ferguson@glasgow.ac.uk or call 0141 330 2304

I'll see you all this Wednesday!

All the best,

Natasha