A fortnight long extravaganza of heritage events which celebrates archaeology and encourages people to get involved will roll out across the UK from 17th July.
As one of England’s oldest and most historic cities, Gloucester is one of hundreds of cities, towns and villages across the UK getting involved in The Festival for British Archaeology.
On Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 July Gloucester City Council’s Heritage Service, in partnership with the Gloucester Heritage Urban Regeneration Company will be providing re-enactors and activities.
On Saturday 24th July English Heritage is throwing open the doors of the historic Blackfriar’s Priory. Gloucester’s Heritage Service will be on hand to show how paper is made and encourage visitors to write the beautiful illuminated writing like the monks who lived in Blackfriars more than 800 years’ ago. Visitors will even be able to meet a ‘monk’ and ‘nun’ and find out what their lives were like in the 12th and 15th centuries and learn about the more recent events when the local community came together earlier this year to record archaeology on the former ‘Clutch Clinic’ site next to the Priory before it was demolished.
On Sunday 25th July the monks and nuns will be at St Oswalds Priory from 10am to 12pm and at Greyfriars off Brunswick Road in Gloucester from 1pm – 3pm.
Richard Owen, Project Manager at the GHURC, said: “We love getting involved in events such as these because more than anything it gets local people involved in the wonderful heritage of the city, so they can appreciate more the importance of heritage regeneration.
Councillor Martyn White, cabinet member for heritage and leisure, said: “Gloucester is such an exciting city, with 1000 years and many layers of history still to be uncovered. We hope that lots of people take advantage of this annual opportunity to put Gloucester ‘under the microscope’ and enjoy celebrating our City’s history.”