Uncovering the History of Devizes: the North Wessex Downs VIP team at the UK’s annual Festival of Archaeology
On Saturday 13 July 2024, members of National Grid’s North Wessex Downs Visual Impact Provision (VIP) team and Wessex Archaeology teamed together for a day of celebration and fun to present the ancient finds that have been uncovered during the early construction works on Roundway Hill.
As part of the UK’s annual Festival of Archaeology, local residents and history enthusiasts alike were invited to a family friendly drop-in event at Devizes Town Hall to learn about the fascinating finds that have been discovered. Visitors were able to see a bone comb that was most likely used in wool production and slag fragments which suggest metal working activities. Lead bullets and a 3-inch 4-pound iron cannonball were also on display, discovered close to Roundway Hill, thought to date from the Battle of Roundway Down in 1643.
There were also opportunities to jump into the past using Virtual Reality (VR) headsets to explore the lives of people living in Iron Age and Romano-British settlements, as well as during the English Civil War, informed by the evidence they’ve left behind.
Later in the day, National Grid and Wessex Archaeology hosted a talk at the Wiltshire Museum which provided further details about the archaeology investigations as well as the North Wessex Downs VIP project, that will remove 4.6km of overhead line and 13 pylons and replace them with underground cables.
Amardeep Malhi, National Grid’s lead project manager for the project said: “It was great to see so many people come along and celebrate the incredible artifacts that have been discovered.
The theme of this year’s festival was archaeology and community, so it was very fitting that we were able to bring everyone together to learn more about how communities in the past lived.”
