Lottery boost for museum's archaeology project

A report on the Barnstaple Library site excavations will be published together with a three-year plan

A museum in north Devon has received National Lottery funding to analyse archaeological findings from the 1970s and 1980s.

The Potted History Project at The Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon will use the £51,924 grant to progress the post-excavation examination of at least 14 archaeological digs.

The museum said the relics date from the 12th Century through to the early modern period and include three 17th Century pottery kilns which helped establish the county's early trade relations with the Americas.

Alison Mills, the director of the museum said she was "thrilled" to share Barnstaple's potted history with local people and a "worldwide audience".

Ceramic pots were extensively traded to the emerging colonies in the USA and Canada

The museum added the project would provide "opportunities for volunteering, skills training and community engagement with the aim of increasing public interest in the region's pottery heritage".

A "large backlog" of archaeological discoveries will form the materials, in addition to paper documents and photographs, with an aim to digitise the collection.

A post-excavation archaeologist would be appointed as part of the first phase of the project to conduct a nine-month pilot alongside a team of volunteers.

Proposals would be considered by the National Lottery Heritage Fund for a second round of funding for the archaeological project, where a full award of £352,770 will be available.

Heritage funding comes under anything from the past which people value and want to pass on to future generations.