Over 700 visitors joined us at Castilly Henge this Saturday to take the rare opportunity to explore this important archaeological excavation – a major project targeting questions about the character, date and potential later reuse of this unique prehistoric ritual site.
The project is a collaboration between Historic England, the Cornwall Archaeological Society and the Cornwall Heritage Trust.
We were blown away by how many people came along. Thank you for your patience waiting for guided tours of this ongoing excavation – we hope you enjoyed learning more about why this monument is such a special part of Cornwall’s heritage!
There was a wealth of other activities to get involved with. These ranged from meeting the volunteers and archaeologists who have been working at the site to flint knapping, storytelling about Neolithic life, historic food making and creating a cyanotype print with Cornwall-based contemporary artist, Robin James Sullivan.
This week sees the excavation come to a close, and it’s been such an honour to collaborate with Historic England and Cornwall Archaeological Society on this exciting project to investigate the late Neolithic site’s origins, purpose and how it changed over time.
Community engagement has been at the heart of the project, and over the course of the last month, we’ve been thrilled for the dig to involve nearly 90 volunteers working alongside professional archaeologists, welcome visits from over 300 local school children and connect over 110 people to their heritage via community group visits and social prescribing sessions.
The excavation is funded and directed by Historic England and supported by staff from the Cornwall Archaeological Unit. The Open Day and associated outreach activities were made possible by a £42,990 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to Cornwall Archaeological Society and a £10,000 grant from Historic England.
This project is a collaboration between…
Made possible by funding from…
We’re thrilled to say that Cornwall Heritage Trust’s appeal to raise the £50,000 needed to acquire and secure the future of this unique prehistoric ritual site has now raised over just over £11,000.
Despite being one of the South-West’s most important and best-researched late Neolithic sites, Castilly Henge is currently at risk due to the threat posed by invasive vegetation, and it is inaccessible to the public.
Every donation makes such a huge difference and we cannot thank everyone who has supported the appeal enough!
We still have quite a way to go to reach our target of £50,000, so if you are able to make a donation, we would be hugely grateful.
