ARCHAEOLOGISTS have been excavating areas within the grounds of Berkeley Castle in an aim to build up a detailed analysis of its history.

The Berkeley Castle Project launched in 2005, with the castle as the focal point for the town’s initial settlement.

For the past three weeks (until June 2) a team of expert archaeologists have also been conducting digs in St Mary’s Church and the Edward Jenner Museum Garden.

These expanded digs follow on-going cartographic research and fieldwork.

Through these expansions the project, known as ‘Minster, Manor & Town’, has worked alongside the museum garden’s board of trustees and members of St Mary’s.

The project is being conducted in partnership with the University of Bristol, the Berkeley Castle Charitable Trust and the Department of Archaeology & Anthropology.

Michael Boyall, a spokesman from the University of Bristol, said: “It is anticipated that the project, based on such an important, prestigious and largely undisturbed site, will add much to our knowledge and understanding of the early medieval period.

“It will also allow us to explore the subsequent changes in landscape and society with the coming of the Normans, and the erection of a castle on the former Saxon minster site.

“The project aims to achieve its objective by combining the results of detailed archaeological fieldwork with information contained in the castle’s impressive collection of 20,000 historical documents; 6,000 of which relate specifically to the medieval period.”

All pictures by Stephen Richards.