The Siege Museum's Big Dig at Boom Hall and Culmore Point commences

The Siege Museum, a community-based museum dedicated to preserving the story of the Great Siege of 1689, has commissioned Queen’s to undertake archaeological investigations at Boom Hall, the location of the Jacobite barrier which prevented relief ships coming up the Foyle to the city, and at Culmore Point, the site of Culmore Fort which also played a key part in the Siege. Archaeologists are opening trenches at Boom Hall in advance of a team of local volunteer diggers coming on site next week to take part in this community dig. 

The dig followed a well attended public event in Holy Trinity Church Culmore - itself an important Siege site, where the Director of the QUB Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork, Dr Colm Donnelly, and the Chairperson of the Siege Museum, William Moore, had presented their plans for the dig. Dr Donnelly commented, “The Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork is committed to a community-led approach to archaeology as this builds local communities’ ownership of the dig and of the heritage  being investigated.People have volunteered their time for the dig at Boom Hall  and property owners at Culmore Point have volunteered to have a test pit dug in their back gardens. “ Mr Moore added “ The Siege Museum  is dedicated to preserving and developing the story of the 1689 Siege and these digs will add greatly to our knowledge about these Jacobite Siege sites. The Great Siege is part of our present-day shared heritage and the Siege Museum is grateful to the Heritage Lottery Fund for providing us with the funding to deliver this and other activities in the museum's outreach programme.” The location of the dig at Boom Hall is very inaccessible at the moment but Derry Strabane Council will shortly be announcing dates for an open weekend for the public. Regular updates will be posted on the Siege Museum’s website www.thesiegemuseum.org All media enquiries to Mark Lusby +44 (0) 78 9453 4553 Photo:Mayor of Derry Strabane Council, Cllr John Boyle, and Siege Museum Guide, Stuart Moore, at Boom Hall, lending a hand to the QUB Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork team of archaeologists, led by Ruth Logue. Photocredit Jim McCafferty Photography