Archaeological dig returns to Carlisle for summer excavation

Previous digs discovered "finds of a lifetime." Credit: Stuart Walker

The archaeological dig at Carlisle Cricket Club has returned for a summer excavation.

Uncovering Roman Carlisle (URC) has returned to Carlisle's Roman Bathhouse as they look to excavate an unexplored part of the site.

They are aiming to discover the true size of the original bathhouse, which is thought to be the largest building on Hadrian's Wall.

This excavation at the cricket club dig site started on Tuesday, 30 July and will run until Saturday, 2 August.

There are future planned visits to the site. Credit: Cumberland Council

In 2024 the site has seen 5000 visitors and 800 school children visiting.

The project is a collaboration between Cumberland Council, Carlisle Cricket Club, Tullie and Wardell Armstrong.

Frank Giecco, Technical Director at Wardell Armstrong, said: “Its exciting news that we are back on site sooner than I had thought, at quite short notice we have been able to organise a mini-dig.

“The excavation will target the northeast corner of the site. The size and scale of the full building is still a bit of a mystery, so it’s great to be looking in an area that’s mostly not been explored before to try and answer some more questions about the site."

The dig has received numerous awards including three archaeology achievement awards and were recognised from the Society for Museum Archaeology.

Frank Giecco added: "We have about 20 volunteers on site each day to help out, and we are very happy to be welcoming people from Cumberland and beyond back to the site for this mini dig."

Significant finds

A lump of Tyrian Purple, a rare archaeological object, thought to be the only one of its type in the Roman Empire, was discovered as part of the excavation last year.

The soft mysterious purple substance was discovered in the drains at a Roman Bathhouse,

It is a paint pigment made from thousands of crushed seashells from the Eastern Mediterranean and North Africa.

It is believed to be the only known example in Northern Europe, and possibly the only example of solid unused paint pigment anywhere in the Roman Empire.

The year before, two giant Roman heads were uncovered by on volunteer and experts described it as a "find of a lifetime".

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