News Story
We are delighted to reveal that we are embarking on an exciting excavation at Highdown Hill this month. The Highdown Big Dig 2025 will see Worthing Museum join forces with the National Trust Archaeology and Worthing Archaeological Society for this community Big Dig. This project will be part of the Council for British Archaeology’s annual Festival of Archaeology. There will also be lots of free-to-attend tours and workshops during the project, suitable for children and adults. (see Events below)
We will be hosting a Big Dig Open Day on Saturday, 26th July, with extra activities. Daily updates will be made on this page and our website.
Highdown Hill is an archaeological site of national importance, with its Bronze Age enclosure, Iron Age hill fort (built on top of the Bronze Age enclosure!) Roman activity, including a bathhouse, and, of course, the nationally significant Anglo-Saxon/Early Medieval cemetery within the ramparts.
Highdown had seen numerous excavations in the past, most notably the poorly executed digging of the 1890s when the cemetery was first revealed, as well as a rescue dig after hurricane damage in 1988. This will be the first Big Dig to take place at Highdown, and the first excavation in nearly 40 years.
We will be investigating multiple features across the hill, including a possible Bronze Age burial mound, Iron Age field systems, Roman activity near the bathhouse and more. By applying this holistic approach to the landscape, we aim to uncover archaeological evidence of human activity at Highdown spanning thousands of years. Visitors will be able to witness live archaeology in action, with trenches and test pits visible to the public from Sunday, 20th July, through to Thursday, 31st July.
We are very grateful to UCL Institute of Archaeology (Archaeology South-East), who will be loaning us their top osteoarchaeologist in case we come across human or animal remains on site.
Later next year, Worthing Museum will host a major exhibition showcasing the results of the Highdown Big Dig. In conjunction with this, we will be hosting a conference at our venue titled The Story of Highdown Hill, inviting speakers from across the country to discuss the multi-period history of this special landmark.
EVENTS
We will be hosting free children's workshops at the Big Dig HQ, located at the summit of the hill, during the project. There will also be free daily tours of the excavation and history of this local landmark (times and dates in the comments below)
On Saturday 26th July we will be hosting an Open Day where we'll have the Weorod living history group demonstrate Anglo-Saxon life and death on site, in addition to workshops for children and young adults, flint knapping demonstrations, bug hunts hosted by the National Trust Ranger team and the opportunity to see the artefacts uncovered so far.
Members of the team will be camping on-site throughout the project to ensure the site remains secure and protected.
Accessibility
Free parking at Highdown Gardens. Toilets at Highdown Gardens. It is a fifteen-minute walk from Goring-by-Sea train station, along the path adjacent to the A259. There are no gates on the hill, so wheelchair access is possible; however, there are roots in certain areas that could make it challenging at times.