ARCHAEOLOGISTS have spent a day on the tiles as a bid to uncover the past continues in Petersfield.

Three weeks of dishing up the dirt will finish this weekend as the 2023 Petersfield Big Dig will conclude around The Avenue and The Spain.

The event has been led by the Liss Archaeological Group in collaboration with the town museum, Petersfield Area Historical Society and the town council, which allowed the exploration on its land. 

Ancient bottles, fragments of glass and a small section of tiled floor have been among the finds with a weekend of digging to go. 

The digs – which began on July 14 and have coincided with the annual British Festival of Archaeology – followed geophysical surveys and have been concentrated on metre-square test pits. 

The event was at The Avenue playing fields and was opened by the town mayor, Cllr JC Crissey, with the group setting up display tents at each site to give visitors more information.

Small pieces of crockery were uncovered during the first dig while an area of paved or tiled flooring was found around 37 centimetres down in a nearby garden.

“We’re enlarging the history of the area by digging down – it’s uncovering more history through excavation,” said Liss Archaeological Group chairman Keith Baker.

“We’ve been digging in these gardens because they’re just a little bit older than the rest of the town,” added Mr Baker, commenting on the digs around The Spain.

“One of the houses here is a timber-framed building that dates to the 1700s. We’re looking at places at Sheep Street and St Peter’s Road and we hope to do about ten to 12 back gardens.

“We’ve found some stained glass with lead in one garden and also we’ve found some thin glass which was buried quite deeply in another.

“We’ve also found lots of very old wine bottles by the church.”

Further explorations will take place at The Avenue this Saturday and Sunday, with children’s activities taking place on both days from 11am to 4pm.

Guided walks are also planned, with tickets priced £3. For more details about the Big Dig visit www.bigdig.live/events