Michael Wood’s Story of England, a six-part documentary series was shown on BBC2 and BBC4, in Autumn 2010. Staff and students from the School of Archaeology & Ancient History at the University of Leicester were involved in the production of this series, in which historian Michael Wood tells the story of English history through one community. Using documents, landscape, buildings, science and archaeology, and with the help of the villagers themselves, he explores the lives of the ordinary people against the backdrop of national events across more than a two thousand years.

The village in question is Kibworth in Leicestershire, a parish which technically comprises three villages: Kibworth Harcourt, Kibworth Beauchamp and Smeeton Westerby. In July 2009, the School’s Outreach Officer Debbie Miles-Williams, together with Pauline Carroll and a group of students, worked alongside the locals to excavate test pits around the villages to find traces of their past history.

Debbie led another team of staff, Dr. Neil Christie, Dr. Mike Hawkes, Debbie Sawday and Neil Finn from ULAS (University of Leicester Archaeological Services), and undergraduate and post graduate students, Kate Parks, Julia Farley, Susie McGraw, David Carthy, back to Kibworth Harcourt in September 2009 to help local schoolchildren from Kibworth High School, to excavate further test pits, to trace medieval activity.

Among the artefacts unearthed during the project were prehistoric flint blades, Roman pottery and much medieval pottery, fragment of Anglo-Saxon bone comb and a possible cannon ball.

Dr. Jeremy Taylor worked alongside members of the Hallaton Fieldworking Group who are part of the Leicestershire Community Fieldworkers. The team undertook a large-scale geophysical survey of fields north west of the villages, which located an extensive Iron Age settlement and a Roman villa, showing that Kibworth had a much older history that the documents show!

Dr. Neil Christie discusses finds with the pupils

STORY OF ENGLAND Top historian Michael Wood enlisted help of staff and students from the University of Leicester’s

School of Archaeology & Ancient History to investigate 2,000 years of English history

The end of the Big Dig outside the Coach & Horses Debbie Miles-Williams, Michael Wood & Pauline Carroll The end of the Kibworth High School Dig

David Carthy and his team

Susie McGraw helps pupils to record in a test pit

Mark and Petrika sieving for finds

Michael and Carenza being filmed discussing finds

Pauline recording Test pit 40 School of Archaeology & Ancient History