AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL dig has been launched, thanks to new funding.

The West Cumbria Archaeological Society, which was established in 2003, is delighted to have been awarded £69,300 in National Lottery Heritage funding for its Holme Cultram Harbour Project.

Holme Cultram Abbey, in Abbeytown, was the largest monastic house in Cumbria and was founded by Cistercian monks.

The new project aims to build on discoveries in 2016, when local volunteers working on one of the excavations uncovered a jetty to the south east of the abbey. Vessels travelled in from the Solway First on a long filled-in deep water channel using this as a landing stage, possibly during the construction period of the Abbey.

With the funding from the National Lottery, the project will revisit the area and focus on the ways the monastery used and adapted the river.

Society member Mike Lister said: “We’re delighted we’ve received this support thanks to National Lottery players. It will enable us to follow up work done in recent years and involve members, volunteers and the wider community in uncovering more of the fascinating history of Holme Cultram Abbey.”

Gill Goodfellow, secretary of the society, added: “Thanks to our keen volunteers we are working on the Chapter House where Abbey business was carried out, as well as a well preserved monastic toilet block and drainage system.”

Volunteers and schools will be engaged in all aspects of the project through working with local company Grampus Heritage and Training Limited, as well as the Solway AONB who will deliver the educational side of the project.

Activities will range from archive research and geophysical surveys to coring, excavation and post-excavation assessment of material.

The society is looking for volunteers who are interested in helping out in all areas of the project including excavation, research and finds processing.

The excavation phase started on April 24 and is due to finish on May 12.

To volunteer, email westcumbriaas@gmail.com or visit the society’s Facebook page.