The Big Dig is coming to Calderstones

Under my window a clean rasping sound
When the spade sinks into gravelly ground:
My father, digging. I look down

Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds
Bends low, comes up twenty years away
Stooping in rhythm through potato drills
Where he was digging.

- Digging, Seamus Heaney

2015 has got off to an exciting start at Calderstones Mansion House with yet more shared reading groups and special events welcoming in the New Year, and its biggest project involving the community and unearthing the history of the area is yet to come...

As part of the ongoing 'Connect at Calderstones' project supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, The Reader Organisation alongside National Museums Liverpool will be offering a number of heritage activities and events within Calderstones Park in the coming months. All of these special events are leading up to The Big Dig, a wide-scale community dig which will bring people closer to the park than they have ever been before.

The Big Dig will begin this April and visitors are welcome to join in the two-week digging period, exploring the park in the hope of unearthing some hidden treasures that could join the Neolithic Calder Stones already housed in the park - the earliest human monument in Merseyside. The project is especially exciting as it will be the first time Calderstones is open to public access for historical excavations.

Richard MacDonald, Heritage Stories Maker at The Reader Organisation is looking forward to The Big Dig getting underway:

“The Calderstones are of national importance and this dig is an exciting opportunity for people in the local area to get involved in a community dig and support The Reader's plans for the future. As the park has never been built on there could be anything under our feet. We may even find evidence of the first humans to live in this area - relics of the earliest scousers!”

The Big Dig will take place between Monday 27th April and Friday 8th May and anyone from the community is welcome to pick up a spade and take part. You can follow the project more closely through the Big Dig blog, with regular progress updates posted in the running to the main event: www.caldiesbigdig.org.uk

Before the digging begins, visitors to the Mansion House will have the opportunity to take part in a number of free preparatory events allowing them to learn more about excavation:

• On Thursday 29th January, the Museum of Liverpool will be holding free tours through the prehistoric collection, including the chance to get your hands on some replica Calder Stones (times: 11am, 12pm, 2pm, 3pm)
• Get an insight into a day in the life of an archaeologist at Ready to get Digging on Thursday 19th February at Calderstones Mansion House from 2-4pm
• Join Ron Cowell, Curator of Prehistory at Museum of Liverpool, for a talk about the Calder Stones themselves and Merseyside during the Stone Age on Thursday 5th March, 7pm at Calderstones Mansion House

All of these events are free to attend, and to avoid disappointment booking is advised. You can register your places on each by heading to http://www.thereader.org.uk/events or http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/mol/events

If you've always fancied yourself as an Indiana Jones or Time Team explorer or perhaps are looking for a new hobby to embark on this New Year, this is the perfect chance to do some exploring right on your doorstep! Be sure to keep logged on to the Big Dig blog for more news in the coming months.