Aside from markings on some ordnance survey maps, very little is known about Woodvale House, which was the residence of Reverend Octavius Glover. Records show that the land was taken over by Belfast Corporation in 1888 to create what is now Woodvale Park.

In a bid to unlock the history of their local area, the children, who are primary six and primary seven, have been working alongside archaeologists from Queen’s and members of the local community.

They have now found elements of a path, which is from the early development of the park. Beneath this, they also found potential features of the 19th century house, including pottery, prehistoric flint and coins.

The two-week excavation was organised by the Community Archaeology Programme Northern Ireland (CAPNI) and funded by a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Dr Heather Montgomery from Queen’s is site director of the excavation. She comments: “The dig has been a great opportunity for the pupils and the wider community to investigate the development of the Shankill District and Belfast as a whole.

“In living memory, this has only ever been known as a park, which opened in 1888. With the help of the local community and our amazing school children, we’ve now been able to unearth some fascinating insights.

“We’ve found what we think is remains of the 19th century house, some glass bottles from the 19th century, some period pottery, an ornate terracotta clay figurine and a 1906 coin. Our school children have also found some flint from the Neolithic period, which takes the site back around 5,000 years, this is fascinating.”

Heather adds: “The school children all took part in workshops at the Spectrum Centre, which taught them the basics of archaeology. It’s fantastic to see them getting into the outdoors, working with our archaeologists and uncovering artefacts.

“We’ve also had lots of local people from the community here and together we have been able to get a real insight into the park’s hidden history.”

Emmie, a primary seven pupil at Black Mountain Primary School says it has been “really exciting”.

She comments: “Myself and my friends have found lots of artefacts like slag, which came from crushed up iron and also some flint, which was used to build fires and light the house. It’s been a really fun day and it felt so good to be outdoors digging for artefacts.”

Ollie, who is also a pupil at Black Mountain Primary School comments: “It’s been very interesting, and I really enjoyed digging and finding out more about history.”

The next community archaeology excavation will take part in Derrygonnelly, Fermanagh. Running from Monday 6 October to Friday 17 October, the excavation will be led by Professor Eileen Murphy.

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