Visits

Events normally cost £2 per child (to cover refreshments and incidental expenses) which can be paid on the day. However, some visits to attractions that charge an admission fee may incur a higher charge.

9-16 year olds require a completed parental permission slip. Under 9's are welcome but must be accompanied by a parent or guardian for the duration of the visit.

Next Meeting:

August - Please note that there will NOT be a meeting in August due to the summer holidays.

Future Meetings:

Details of future meetings will be available in early September.

Recent Visits

18th July 2010 – Weoley Castle Ruins Open Day

17th July 2010 - We enjoyed excavating, sieving, pot washing and generally doing what archaeologists do at our 'Dig for Shakespeare' event at Nash’s House in Stratford!

26th June 2010 – We spent the morning preparing the Weoley Castle site ahead of July's Open Day.

22nd May 2010 - A visit to Blakesley Hall in Yardley to research "Herbs, Health and Hygiene".

24th April 2010 - We returned to Aston Hall which has recently reopened after a multi- million pound refurbishment to find out what has happened to the archaeology that was uncovered, and learn about life at the hall from the Jacobean period onwards.

27th March 2010 - We learned about the Kushites - the Kingdom of Kush or Cush was an ancient African state centered on the Nile Valley in modern day Sudan. We learned about the culture of these ancient people and recreated one of their burial mounds.

27th February 2010 - We visited Selly Manor to make an inventory of the contents of this beautiful Tudor mansion and find out what it was like to live in the Tudor period.

12th December 2009 - Christmas party with a Saxon theme at Selly Manor, Bournville.

21st November 2009 - We had a place name session in honour of the late great Margaret Gelling who died earlier this year. We looked at place name evidence and how we use it to build up a picture of what landscapes looked like in the past. Peter talked us through some of the Latin that he has been teaching himself and told us how to tell a roman settlement from a civitas.

31st October 2009 - We investigated "Prehistoric Pottery" at Birmingham Archaeology and made some pots of our own.

13th September 2009 - We visited Weoley Castle Ruins where one of the stonemasons told us about their work on the restoration of the castle. We also made our own carvings and gargoyles.

18th July-2nd August 2009 - Various Festival of British Archaeology events including Weoley Castle Open Day.

28th June 2009 - We helped a group of volunteers to clear certain parts of Weoley Castle Ruins that have been a bit neglected recently so that they looked at their best for the Open Day event.

16th May 2009 - We had a guided tour of one of Birmingham’s largest Victorian cemeteries at Key Hill in the Jewellery Quarter and learned about burial practice in the Victorian period.

25th April 2009 - Monuments in the landscape. We visited Birmingham Archaeology to learn about monuments and what they can tell us about past civilisations. The examples we studied include Stonehenge, Avebury, The White Horse and Moseley Bog Burnt Mound. We researched modern and old photos as well as maps of these areas.

March 2009 - We visited Birmingham Archaeology to learn about the post-excavation processes that archaeological finds go through once they have been dug out of the ground.

19th February 2009 - We visited the Birmingham Museum Collections Centre to see their extraordinary collection of Victorian objects. We learned about how the victorians lived, worked, learned and travelled. We were also history detectives, trying to find out 'what is and what isn't Victorian' 'what is genuine and what is fake' using photographic clues.

24th January 2009 - New Collections, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery.

13th December 2008 - Glyphs, Ciphers and Enigma: Breaking the Codes of History [report].

22nd November 2008 - Visit to the Lapworth Museum of Geology at the University of Birmingham.

18th October 2008 - ‘The Romans’ at Birmingham Archaeology – One of our members Edwin Rose told us about what he learned when he visited Rome and Pompeii and we designed and made our own mosaics [report].

13th September 2008 - We visited Sandwell Park Farm where we had a look at the forge and were shown metalworking techniques for making weapons and armour [video].

13th July 2008 - National Archaeology Week event at Weoley Castle Ruins [podcast].

28th June 2008 - Finds Drawing Session in conjunction with Duncan Slarke from the Portable Antiquities Scheme. [Full report]

31st May 2008 - In the final part in our series of visits to historic Kings Nortonwe were one of the first groups to be taken on a tour of the newly restored Saracen's Head so we could compare the outcome with what we saw of the old building back in March 2006.

26th April 2008 - The 2nd part of our series of visits to historic Kings Norton examined St Nicolas’ Churchyard. We learned how gravestones vary at different times & in different places and gained an understanding of how the churchyard has developed over time and how it has been used during different time periods.

Brief summaries of our visits are provided below. Full details of all of our events can be found in our Annual Reports (Adobe Acrobat files):

April 2007 - March 2008
April 2006 - March 2007
April 2005 - March 2006

15th March 2008 - We learned about medieval life, castles & textiles at Weoley Castle Ruins [Report].

23rd February 2008 - We learned about the Egyptians including decorating death masks, and creating our own personalised hieroglyphs. BYAC member Billy told us all about found out when he visited the King Tut exhibition in London [Report].

26th January 2008 - Restoration in Kings Norton. We visited the site of the winner of TV’s Restoration Project a couple of years ago at the Saracen’s Head, Kings Norton. The Grammar School has recently been completed and is due to be opened to the public very soon. We were one of the first groups to be taken around it following the restoration. We found out exactly what they have been doing – and just how much they have left to do! We hope to be able to start our own in-depth project about the sites which will be completed in future sessions.

15th December 2007 - Christmas in the Trenches at Cannock Chase. We met up with some of the members of the Birmingham Pals Regiment and had an exclusive visit to a hutment that they are restoring next door to the Visitor Centre [Report].

17th November 2007 - We had a fun tour of the workshops of the Museum of the Jewellery Quarter with demonstrations of welding and stamping metal. We looked at the Ship wreck box with various artefacts, made drawings of these as well as making some bracelets [Report].

27th October 2007 - Mexican Day of the Dead. We learned about this festival’s Aztec origins and recreated a Day of the Dead altar complete with bread and sugar skulls. We had great fun making masks and playing piñata. [Report]

9th September 2007 - We were given a guided tour of New Hall Mill and of New Hall Valley where we examined a burnt mound. We will also took a look at New Hall itself which is now used as an exclusive Hotel.

14th July 2007 - We helped in the excavation of the so-called Warley Abbey which was built in Warley Woods for the Galton Family in the early 1800s. [Report]

30th June 2007 - In our Civil War session at Selly Manor we met a Civil War soldier, learned pike drill and battle tactics, and designed and made BYAC banners to raise to the glory of archaeology in the West Midlands.

26th May 2007 - We visited the 13th century Churchill Forge Mill.

21st April 2007 - Archaeological techniques, examination of animal bones [Report].

31st March 2007 - We investigated the canals, locks, and canal art at Lifford Hall, Kings Norton.

24th February 2007 - We visited Birmingham Back to Backs. [Report]

27th January 2007 - We visited Birmingham Archaeology for artefact related activities including pot washing and finds identifying.

December 16th 2006 - Our Victorian Christmas party was held in The Old Clifton School, Balsall Heath.

November 18th 2006 - We learned about the ancient craft of woodturning with various techniques being demonstrated by Brian Hooper at Blackroot Saw Mill in Sutton Park where we were able to look around the workshops and learn about different trees.

October 28th 2006 - We investigated the area around St James Church in Mere Green and learned about genealogy.

30th September 2006 - We conducted an archaeological walkover survey of the River Cole, walking just over a mile from Sarehole Mill to the site of Tittiford Mill (now called Trittiford Mill). Along the way we learned about how the mills diverted water from the river and investigated archaeological evidence for previous land use.

23rd July 2006 - For National Archaeology Week we will be spent the day living like the Vikings, building our own turf house, making shields so that we can defend it, learning about runes and the myths of the gods and our ancestors. [Full report and photo's]

24th June 2006 - We had a guided tour of the restored 16th Century Castle Bromwich Gardens with its sculptures and maze, a sneaky look in the special church which has an older wooden church inside the brick outer skin, and we made a real mosaic for the YAC competition.

20th May 2006 - Our day in the Ice Age in conjunction with the National Ice Age Network told us everything we'd need to know about living in an ice age including demonstrations of flint knapping and how to identify stone tools and fossils.

22nd April 2006 - Visit to Soho House, the home of Matthew Boulton one of the great pioneers of the Industrial Revolution. The house is unique in that it was probably the first centrally heated English house since Roman times.

25th March 2006 - We visited the Saracen's Head and Old Grammar School in Kings Norton which were the winners of the BBC Restoration programme in 2004.

25th February 2006. We made viking dolls with authentic dress and constructed model Viking houses and long ships which we tried out in the stream [report].

28th January 2006. We visited the labs of Birmingham Archaeology to learn how archaeologists process finds from excavations [report].

10 December 2005. We had a Tudor Christmas party at Selly Manor [report].

26 November 2005. We visited Selly Manor (one of the oldest Tudor houses in Birmingham) and took an inventory of items found in the house.

29 October 2005. We visited Birmingham University to learn about human bones and what archaeologists can learn about people that lived long ago from bones that are found on excavations [report].

24 September 2005. We visited to Sarehole Mill and Moseley Bog (inspiration for Lord of the Rings) [report].

23 July 2005 - we enjoyed a range of events with an Iron Age Romano-British theme to celebrate National Archaeology Week.

25 June 2005 - we had an interesting look around the historic site of Weoley Castle [photo].

28 May 2005 - we completed our excavation that we began in April at Moseley Dovecote [report].

21 May 2005 - We researched the history of Sutton Coldfield, including looking at historic buildings and old photographs. We saw how Sutton Coldfield has changed from a Saxon town through history and how the architecture has been changed over time.

30 April 2005 - We began an excavation in the grounds of Moseley Dovecote and tried our hands at various surveying techniques [report].

19 March 2005 - We visited Bourne Pool which is the site of ancient settlements where flint tools have been found.

19th February 2005 - A visit to Metchley Roman Fort and an insight into the work of Birmingham Archaeology. We learned about the work of Birmingham Archaeology including a visit to an excavation currently underway within the area of Metchley Roman Fort and a visit to their stores and labs where we washed finds from an excavation near Coventry [report].

29th January 2005. We surveyed some earthworks that have been recently uncovered in Sutton Park and discussed some theories about the possible origin [report].

18th December 2004 - Fancy Dress Chrismas Party. We had a mini-party with food, games and competitions. Members dressed up as a variety of historical characters.

27th November 2004 - Experimental Archaeology. Plants have been used for dying materials for 1,000's of years. We created some material from scratch including spinning wool, dying and weaving.

23rd October 2004 - Hallowe'en Spectacular. We learned about myths, ledgends & fokelore and how these have infiltrated into modern superstitions and traditions. We also learned about how ancient people lived off the land using natural resources for herbal remedies and to make useful tools. Some of us made brooms in the traditional way using silver birch twigs and some of us made magic wands for a spot of sourcery. We also had fun playing the traditional Hallowe'en game of apple-bobbing.

25th September 2004 - Roman Road Sutton Park. We will be took a close look at the Roman road, and the pressures it faces, 2000 years on from its construction. We surveyed a number of locations of the Roman road, measuring its cross section including the roadside ditches and pits. For more information about the Roman road running through Sutton Park visit the Birmingham Roman Roads Project.

21st August 2004 - Chedworth Roman Villa. We visited Chedworth joining our neighbouring Worcester YAC branch in a day of Roman activities at the villa site.

17th July 2004 - National Archaeology Day. We will helped to create a fully working ‘sweat lodge’ based on the Bronze age remains found in Sutton Park. We also enjoyed host of other bronze age activities such as making pottery and nettle rope. [Report]

19th June 2004 - Wall Roman Town. We learned archaeological techniques as we surveyed the Roman Site at Wall. We discovered more about the Romans and how the site relates to other Roman sites in the area.

29th May 2004 - Sutton Park. We did experimental archaeology, including some preparation work for building our sweat lodge in July for National Archaeology Day.

May 9th 2004 - Newhall Mill. We were given a guided tour round the working mill followed by a look at the archaeology of the landscape surrounding it.

May 8th 2004 - Aston Hall. We were shown the archaeological dig to discover the north range of the stable court demolished over 135 years ago. We also visited Aston Hall itself and were given a tour of the cellars.

April 24th 2004 - Blakesley Hall. We took another trip out to the Tudor mansion to do a spot of building recording, and surveying.

March 27th 2004 - Museum visit. Another trip to the museum, for a guided tour round the exhibitions.

February 28th 2004 - Sandwell Valley. A step back in time with a look at the mediaeval priory, farm museum and Country Park. [Report]

January 31st 2004 - Sutton Park. We examined and recorded the earthworks around Sutton Park. [Report]

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