St Anne’s Park Community Archaeology Pilot Programme
September – November 2021
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Programme summary:
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The St Anne’s Park Community Archaeology Pilot Programme aims to promote both the significance of Saint Anne’s Park as a historic 19th century designed landscape and to provide an opportunity for communities to learn about the diverse archaeology of Dublin City and engage in archaeological practices.
The pilot programme is an initiative of Dublin City Council (Parks, Biodiversity and Landscape Services, and the Heritage
and Archaeology Offices of Planning and Property Development Department) with grant support from the Heritage Council County Heritage Plan Grant Scheme 2021 and Creative Ireland. The programme is being managed on behalf of Dublin City Council by Archaeology and Built Heritage Ltd.
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Launch 18th September 2021
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12.00-17.00, St. Anne’s Park
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The programme begins with an exciting day in the park with a Living History display by Claoimh (http://www.claiomh.ie/), The Big Dig (https://sia.ie/the-big-dig/), Lambay Island Axe-making and bronze casting with UCD School of Archaeology, an archaeological finds table, architectural fragments from the old Saint Anne’s House recently excavated.
The Living History event will be themed Viking Age Ireland & the Battle of Clontarf with three practitioners demonstrating a range of artefacts, costumes and skills such as sword fighting, textile production and leather craft. The Big Dig replica Viking house and workshop excavation will give children the chance to experience being an archaeologist, as they excavate a replica Viking house packed with exciting artefacts.
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Programme summary
The St Anne’s Community Archaeology Programme comprises a series of events both in the park and online, designed to highlight the rich history, architecture and archaeology of the park and surrounding area.
The programme is tailored to all levels of knowledge and interest, with events suitable for all ages. It is designed to be inclusive, accessible and suitable for a wide audience and is free of charge for all participants.
A series of Living History displays, one per month, will be centred around three key themes following a chronological span; the Vikings and the Battle of Clontarf, 16th Century Ireland and the War of Independence. Living History practitioners in period costume will display artefacts and give demonstrations along with short public talks to bring these periods of Dublin’s past to life.
Each month there will be a ‘Schools Day’ in the park for which primary and secondary schools will be invited to book. Primary school pupils will have the opportunity to take part in The Big Dig, a replica Viking house and workshop excavation for children aged 5-12 years. Guided by a team of professional archaeologists and educators, participants will experience being an archaeologist and excavate a Viking house while learning about the lifestyle of their Viking ancestors. Activity sheets based on St Anne’s Park will also be available to all primary schools for use in the park or classroom.
In tandem with The Big Dig will be an on-site Mobile Museum tailored to secondary school pupils. Pupils will engage with a suite of replica artefacts through which they will learn about both daily life and key historic events, the artefact assemblages will also introduce topics such as dress and accessories, weaponry, craft and trade. An activity sheet based on St. Anne’s Park will be available to all secondary schools for teacher-led learning in the park or classroom.
An exhibition about the park, the Guinness family, the original house of St Anne’s and the recent archaeological excavations will be hosted in the park from October 16th for the duration of the programme. This will be accompanied by a display of architectural fragments from the house, which were recovered during recent archaeological investigations.
Select walking tours of the park will be hosted on the first Friday of each month, these will be limited to 20 and bookable in advance.
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The online programme of events includes a series of evening lectures by guest speakers with expertise in a range of topics related to the park and local area. A bookable online course ‘Know your Locality’ will be delivered in 5 evening workshops. The course will take participants step-by-step through the available online sources that will allow them to paint a picture of the geological, archaeological, and historical background of the area. The course will look at examples from throughout
Ireland, but will focus on the geology, archaeology and history of north County Dublin. Workshop 5 will outline how these skills can be used by participants to make their own submissions to the ‘KnowYour5k’ initiative by the Heritage Council and National Museum of Ireland.
The Saint Anne’s Park Community Archaeology Programme is managed by Archaeology and Built Heritage Ltd. on behalf of Dublin City Council. All events are free of charge.
Registration is required for certain events.
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Details of all events taking place as part of the St Anne’s Park Community Archaeology Programme can be found on dedicated facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/StAnnesParkCommunityArchaeology/
Updates with news and events will also be included in the Twitter page : @AnnesParkArch
For further information contact:
Gmail: stannesarchaeology@gmail.com
Phone: 089 2617018
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