LOCALS are being invited to dig deep into the history of Warrington with the town museum's festival of archaeology.
Warrington Museum and Art Gallery has teamed up with the Council for British Archaeology to be one of the partner venues for its nationwide Festival of Archaeology next month.
The free events will take place between July 15 and July 30, and will feature talks on the town's history, as well as hands-on sessions.
Warrington's contribution to this year's festival will include its 'Potty Over Pots' session, which is being delivered by a local ceramics expert.
Deborah Podmore will lead the session on Sunday, July 16, which will take a look at some of the historic manufacturing and decorating techniques used by early potters during the Bronze Age and Roman times.
Another of the programme's standout events will be the exploration of one of Warrington's most historic waterways: the Bridgewater Canal.
Archaeologist Dr Mike Nevell will discuss the history of the canal in a talk on Friday, July 21.
The discussion will feature conversations on the origins of the canal as a means of transportation for the Duke of Bridgewater's coal from the mine to towns and cities nearby - at its peak, the canal saw more than three million tonnes of traffic on its waters.
As always with Warrington Museum, there will be lots of family-focused events.
Youngsters can hunt for and learn about Warrington Museum’s exhibits and curiosities as part of a gallery trail at any point during the festival or get stuck in with numerous themed craft sessions that will be taking place throughout.
Hannah White, Collections Assistant at Warrington Museum and Art Gallery, who is leading on this year’s programme, said: “Developing the annual Festival of Archaeology programme is one of the most exciting and fulfilling aspects of my role.
“As an archaeologist by training myself, I love the opportunity that this festival provides to allow people from all backgrounds to engage with archaeology, which can sometimes be perceived as quite a dry and inaccessible subject."
Hannah added: “This year’s theme is ‘Archaeology and Creativity’ which sits within our wider programme of arts and heritage perfectly, and we hope that the programme of events and activities that we have planned will encourage wider engagement with the museum’s fascinating archaeological collections.
"We hope that you can join in."
All of the events and activities throughout the festival are free, but some do require booking in advance - for more information, visit the museum's website.
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