Over the past 5000+ years, the Nene Valley has seen successive settlements by Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Age, Roman, Saxon and Medieval Settlers.  During the next two years, the Stanwick Lakes project team will be working with individuals, families, local community groups and schools to explore, re-create and celebrate the lives of these settlers as they travelled, settled and traded along the Nene Valley.  An “Ancestral” barn will be built, using the materials and techniques that would be recognised by past settlers, as well as a replacement Iron Age Roundhouse.  There will also be Heritage Walks and Tasting Sessions, looking at the food eaten by settlers over the years.

On Saturday 22nd September there will be a free event, “Come and Meet the Settlers” at Stanwick Lakes to bring to life what it would have been like for these past settlers.  From 10.30am to 4pm, the site will be packed with hands-on activities for all the family to enjoy. In addition, local re-enactors, The Bifrost Guard, will be setting up an encampment and living the life of a Viking settlement.  Andy Chapman, Senior Archaeologist at Stanwick in the 1980s, together with other archaeologists, will also be on hand to describe how the settlers lived and worked by the river.

There will be opportunities to try activities such as:

• Helping to Wattle and Daub our Iron Age Roundhouse

• Making Saxon pottery

• Experiencing Roman cookery

• ‘Messy Museum’ (Pre-book to become an Archaeologist!)

• Following the Settlers’ Trails (one for children, one for 13+ to adult)

• ‘Trying on Settlers Fashions’ and taking a selfie with Willow and Stan

• Having a go at Archery or Axe Throwing

• Learning, and using, some of the Settlers’ traditional craft skills 

Memories of the “Dig”

If you have photographs or memories of the site before or during the excavations, then the project team would be delighted to see and hear them.  Have you discovered any “finds” yourself?  Would you like them to be identified?  If so, bring them along on the day. Standard car parking charges apply.

Tel: 01933 625522 • Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Come and Meet the Settlers