Clitheroe Castle Festival of Archaeology Community Hub Day 2026

Celebrate the Festival of Archaeology 2026 with a new archaeological exhibit in the museum and then join the festival hub for a special day celebrating all things archaeological.  Meet local archaeologists and experts who will be on hand to answer your questions and share their knowledge.  There will be specialists in a range of eras from prehistory all the way to the industrial era, and in a variety of fields like artifact conservation and archaeological technologies.

Find out how community archaeologists are contributing to our knowledge about the Romans in the Ribble Valley, talk to detectorists about how their finds are illuminating untold stories of the past, meet archaeology enthusiasts and see how they get involved in community projects, find out about the conservation work that has been done at the keep, and much more.  You can drop in throughout the day.

This year, our guests include:
Ribble Valley Archaeology.
Friends of Pendle Archaeology Group.
Portable Antiquities Finds Liaison Officers, Lancashire & Cumbria.
Professor Anthony Sinclair, University of Liverpool.
Lancashire Archives.
Lancashire Museums Conservation & Collections.
Professional Archaeologist Pascal Eloy.
Local Detectorists.
Rimington History Society.
Slaidburn Archives.

For younger archaeology-lovers, check out the Corner of Curiosity and Rooms of Discovery, fun zones in the festival hub, where kids can play ancient games, discover artefacts in a dig pit, dress-up in historical costumes and do archaeology-themed crafts and activities.  They can also earn a jr archaeologist certificate and sticker by completing a checklist of archaeology-themed tasks and they can do a bonus Find the Artefact task in the museum* to enter a competition to win a special archaeology-themed goodie bag.

And back by popular demand is our Castle Archaeology Tour.  Spaces are limited so please see the tour event record for details of how to reserve your place. Entry to the festival hub is free.  Admission fee applies only to Museum entry.  Adults £5.20, young people and children 18 years and younger free (additional charges apply for craft).  *Museum admission applies to adults only.

There's lots of family friendly fun across the festival, so why not roll up your sleeves and book your young archaeologists onto one of the kids archaeology workshops?  Adults, too, can get their hands dirty in a Prehistoric Pottery Workshop and Talk for Grown-Ups.  See event listing for details.