From Peppa Pig to Roman dig

"I could be the only archaeologist/Peppa Pig designer in the country", said Alistair Douglas.

He has taken some time out as an animator/designer to volunteer on a project to unearth a Roman villa in Bedford.

Archaeologists, along with a human rights lawyer and accountants, have been trying to find out what lies beneath a plot of land on Manton Lane since 2013.

Over the years the group has found roof tiles, pottery, coins, stucco work and walls.

This year's dig has now finished, but Steve Cockings, chairman of the project, says he wants to return as he does not believe he will "ever be able to move on from this project, given what went on here".

He says that will only be possible if more funds are raised and the care home that owns the site allows them back.

He also wants to publish a book about the discovery "due to its national and international significance".

Douglas, 56, who travels up from St Albans, has also worked on cartoons including Mr Bean, Charlie & Lola and Nikhil & Jay, says: "I'd got some time off, and I thought I'd volunteer on something fascinating."

He has just enrolled on a history course at Birkbeck, University of London, and would love to become an archaeologist.

"Seeing it come to light for the first time in 1,500 years is fantastic," he says.

"We're currently digging a trench that would have been dug a few hundred years ago in order to get rocks out, but it's revealing more and more.

"It wasn't a small house. It would have had a bath house and some of the mod cons, so it's very exciting to work on something quite so prestigious, because there's not a lot of Roman villas around this area."

Roman rule in Britain ended in AD410.

Joan Lightning, 63, from Bedford, is employed by Albion Archaeology and has worked in the sector since the 1980s, but she is at the dig as a volunteer.

"Normally I'd be sitting at a computer dealing with surveys and producing figures for our reports, so it's lovely to get on the site," she says.

"It's a shame that we can never uncover the whole thing, because at least part of it is under the road, parts of it are under a school nearby, so they're never going to see it."

Her role has been helping to find the end of the villa wall but they do not know where that is and "the only way to find out is to uncover it".

Cockings, 63, who is also a human rights lawyer, said: "It's such an important site if you're an archaeologist or a Roman historian — you appreciate how unique this location is and what's here.

"If we don't do this, no-one's going to do it as there is no money and this absolutely needs to be properly investigated and reported upon and not lost to history.

"We were not expecting to find this massive stone building last year, that's why we had to come back this year.

"We dug those long trenches just to prove there was nothing there so we could go on to the report-writing stage — but now we've found this big building we're trying to understand all we can."

Mother and daughter team, Holly Williams, 23, and Emma Clark, 52, are metal detectorists from the local area who heard about the dig from the group's Facebook page.

"I love history and archaeology. It's so hard to get into without going to university, so to be able to just get hands-on and involved is a great experience," said Williams.

Clark said: "I've always wanted to go on archaeological digs since I was in my early 20s and I've never managed to get on one.

"It's up there with one of the best things I've ever done.

"It's a chance in a lifetime for us. I ache in places that I never knew I could ache."

Mike Luke, archaeological director on the site, works for Albion Archaeology but has given up his time for free.

"This site on an archaeological level is very different - we've got walls, we've got floor levels," he said.

"It's very interesting because on a normal day job we're not able to have volunteers work with us.

"We're able to take people from the local community who've never worked in archaeology [but] have a passion for archaeology."

He hopes to return in 2027 as "we thought we'd answered all our questions" until a Roman building was unearthed last year and more sections were found this year.

One of the reasons the teams have been able to dig on the land is because of Nick Hingston, 63, from Leverstock Green, near Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire.

He worked for the care home company that owns the land and gained permission for the dig to start.

"It's incredible — particularly finding the walls that look fantastic; it's absolutely beautiful," he said.

"When you're picking up an artefact or a piece of pottery or something, it might be broken, it might have been thrown away, but nobody has touched that for 1,500 years.

"It's very special and it shows how this piece of land has been used by the inhabitants of Bedfordshire for centuries.

"It's humbling."

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