STOW MINSTER OPEN DAY

Sunday 26th April 2026

St Mary's Church, Stow

Lincoln Archaeology Group launched the community phase of the Stow Project on a beautiful Sunday afternoon with displays of finds, maps and LAG activities in Stow Minster. There were experts, knowledgable experienced members and enthusiastic amateurs (the usual LAG mix) on hand to answer questions and learn from the visitors.

We had 88 members of the public who visited the church that afternoon. Most came from Stow and surrounding villages and some as far as Lincoln and Worksop. The prize for "furthest travelled"must go to the couple from Dubai, who were back on a visit but had been married in the church.

Of those surveyed (37/88), almost all knew nothing or just a little about the history of the village but, perhaps unsurprisingly, the vast majority had an at least some knowledge of archaeology. We also asked about the connection visitors felt towards the the village and the church. Both questions revealed a fairly even spread from no connection to a strong connection but it was interesting that slightly more people felt a strong

connection to the church itself rather than the village.

The visitors had a lot to offer too. Some offered their gardens for test pits, small excavations, 1metre square, to look for evidence of archaeology. Others volunteered to help with activities such as excavating, field walking, finds processing and data management. We had visitors with oral testimony to share, with finds from the local area and even with knowledge gained

from prior research for their own degree. One of the

great things about LAG is that you do not need to be an

expert, or indeed have any knowledge about

archaeology to become involved ... just enthusiasm.

Looking forward to the late May Bank Holiday when we will be starting the first exploratory test pits. These are in private gardens so public access will be limited. Watch this space!