The discovery was made by an enthusiastic group of school children, community volunteers and Queen’s University archaeology students, who have been working alongside Queen’s archaeologists, at the site of Moira Demesne.

They are just days into the four-week dig and so far the group has found building foundations, walls and cobbles, as well as wine bottles, pottery, old coins and Neolithic flint flakes. Some of the artefacts date back to 6,000 years ago.

The excavation, which was organised by the Community Archaeology Programme Northern Ireland (CAPNI) and funded by a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, is being undertaken in partnership with Lisburn City and Castlereagh City Council.

Ruairí Ó Baoill from the School of Natural and Built Environment at Queen’s is leading the excavation. He states: “We are just five days into this excavation and we are absolutely delighted with what we’ve found so far. We are on track to find several thousand artefacts and some of these are 6,000 years old.

“It’s amazing to get such well-preserved masonry, walls and cobbles. Within a few days we’ve already found the outlines of walls and a really beautiful cobbled surface. This allows us to work out the layout of the building.”

He adds: “Archaeology is all about people – we’re able to learn about those who lived here. We’ve found wine bottles and animal bones. This tells a lot about their lifestyle and their diet.

“The pottery being imported from Germany shows us that these were high status people. There’s also pottery with links to England. Their presence on our site tells us about the trade connections that were once in place.”

Talking about the volunteers, Ruairí says: “The volunteers and school children, organised through the Lisburn Museum, have been fantastic. They have found so much in the last few days, it’s great for them and they’ve had a chance to work with the Queen’s archaeologists – this means they can now identify lots of different artefacts.

“We have a Bronze Age ditch still to dig in the next couple of weeks and that’s something I’m really looking forward to. It’s all about learning about history and the survival of the archaeology here is first class.”

Councillor Tim Mitchell, Communities and Wellbeing Chair of Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council said: “The dig offers a fantastic opportunity for the local community to help uncover the past.  With each lift of the trowel, we are learning so much about the Rawdon family, who built the towns of Lisburn and Moira and became one of the UK and Ireland’s most significant landowning families.”

“This dig pushes our knowledge of settlement on the Moira Demense site to the Bronze Age, and possibly further, which is hugely exciting, and we look forward to displaying the finds in Lisburn Museum in due course.

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for the public to get involved in an archaeological dig in their own area. Volunteers can still take part and we would urge anyone interested to get in touch with Lisburn Museum to book a slot now.”

Bookings can be made by visiting: https://www.lisburnmuseum.com/news/moira-demesne-community-archaeology-project-2025/

The excavation at Moira Demesne runs until 26 June. No experience is required.

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