Dig Diaries 2026 – Poulton

This summer, members of the YAC have been joining excavations across the UK as part of our annual Dig It! competition. Our final competition day took place at Poulton in Cheshire. Winners were hosted by the team at the Poulton Research Project and investigated an intriguing site on the English/Welsh border just outside Chester, dating back to the Iron Age!

Read on to find out what our competition winners got up to on the day…

Isabel, 12, from Mersey and Dee YAC told us:

I had a fantastic day doing archaeology at the Poulton Research Project! The weather was perfect for digging! I loved hearing all the fascinating information at the start and learnt so much about the site. Learning about how the old church was updated and renovated over time was particularly interesting.

Something that I found really amazing was the little angel carved onto one of the stones. I really enjoyed digging and we found so much animal bone I was blown away! I also found lots of fire-cracked stones and much more. I’ve also learnt about the best soil to preserve things.

Everyone was so helpful and knowledgeable. Thank you for such a fabulous day!

Elfyn, 13, from Wales Online YAC shared:

Today was a brilliant day!

When I heard that I won the YAC dig it competition, I was so excited and could not wait to get back from Turkey on my holidays and receive my satchel of archaeological tools. When the day came, we drove to Poulton, and went down the dirt track to the parking spaces. Then we walked around the perimeter of a vast field, past an old World War 2 air base with the delivery and engagement manager, Dr Joanne Kirton.

When we reached the site, we met Dr Kevin Cootes, the site consultant and researcher. He was very funny, and constantly cracking painful dad jokes. He showed us around the site where we learned about the Medieval Chapel and all the burials that were found in the area. We saw a grave with actual human toes sticking out!! (the skeleton, of course!). He told us all about what was inside of our satchel, our trowel and brush and how to use them. Then we went individually to work with some volunteers who had experience in digs and archaeology.

I was working with Gina and Eileen. We were excavating an unnatural Iron Age fill, full of rocks packed tightly. I learnt how to find the natural shape of the hole that the Iron Age settlers dug, by scraping at the dark soil with a trowel until we found clay at the bottom, then we could find the original shape of the hole. Gina found a sheep tooth, and I found Iron Age charcoal and fire cracked stones. We had a break for lunch, which was a very good time to have the discussion and learn more things about archaeology.

We finished our work at the excavation area and once that was done, we packed everything up and to got ready to leave. I would love to volunteer at the Poulton research project sometime in the future! It was an amazing experience, and I’d love to come again next year.

Thank you Isabel and Elfyn for sharing your reflections on the day!