Archaeology Festival And Exhibition To Give Fascinating Glimpses Of The Past

A rare chance to delve into Lancashire's past and view historic hidden gems is on offer at a captivating festival and exhibition this week. The popular 'Festival of Archaeology' presents an exciting array of family friendly events, workshops and activities until 31 July at Clitheroe Castle Museum. Now in its fourth year, the Festival of Archaeology in Clitheroe will involve fascinating talks, tours, workshops and technologies.

The Festival of Archaeology runs at the same time as a rare exhibition called 'Hidden Hoards', which opened to the public on 11 July, featuring objects from the Early Bronze Age to Tudor Lancashire. These include Roman and Viking treasure, lost Tudor savings and misplaced Roman gemstones, discovered through archaeological excavation and metal detectors. The Viking treasure, known as 'the Silverdale hoard', consists of pieces of silver such as jewellery, coins and ingots, discovered near the village back in 2011.

Sarah Austin, curator at Lancashire County Council's Cultural Services
The Silverdale hoard was buried between 900 and 910AD. It was found in the original lead container it was buried in. Some of the ingots have nicks marks, where Viking traders were checking for purity. There are also silver coins from the Islamic world known as Dirhams amongst the hoard. One coin came all the way from Baghdad on a Viking age ship, which really gives you a sense of the scale of the network of trade into Lancashire as part of the trade along the Silk Road.

Also featuring in the 'Hidden Hoards' exhibition, which runs until March next year, will be a collection of Roman silver coins, known as the 'Waddington Hoard,' a lost Tudor purse, a misplaced thimble and some lost Roman gemstones.

"The Waddington Hoard consists of 30 silver denarii which were found buried in a pottery bowl near Waddington." says Sarah. "They were probably someone's savings buried in the second century AD. Roman army veterans were sometimes given land to farm on their retirement, so it's possible that they belonged to a Roman army veteran who was farming out near Waddington. The last coin was from the time of the Emperor Hadrian."

Meanwhile a silver thimble from the 17th Century found in Whalley will also feature, she adds, along with some lost coins from the 1590s found in Barton near Preston which could have been lost by accident. Sarah adds: "Thimbles were often given as gifts to women by suitors or by their family, and this one has the initials AN on the top, which could be the maker's mark, or could be the initials of the woman it was given to. Perhaps this woman was walking through Whalley in the 1600s and dropped it by mistake."

"The heat of the baths sometimes melted the glue that adhered these gemstones to rings, which is why are found in large numbers in Roman bathhouse drains!”, says Sarah. “The gemstones on display belonged to people that had had a bad day at the bathhouse!"

The Festival of Archaeology takes place until 31 July and the 'Hidden Hoards' exhibition runs until March 2026. Both are happening at Clitheroe Castle Museum, with many Festival of Archaeology events accessible for free. Admission to Clitheroe Castle Museum costs £5.10, but everyone under 18 can visit without charge.

County Councillor Matthew Salter, cabinet member for Education and Skills, says:
"I'm pleased Lancashire are part of this national celebration of our history and heritage. There are remarkable archaeological sites in Lancashire and these exhibits bring to life the Lancastrians of times gone by. I want to encourage everyone to visit Clitheroe Castle and discover the archaeology and heritage, and hope that the next generation of archaeologists and historians will be inspired by what they see."