Winchester’s Archaeology students granted exclusive access to an ancient ruin

Archaeology students at the University of Winchester have been granted exclusive access to Merdon Castle, a Bronze Age ruin near Romsey.

Historic England have granted rare access to the site, which is not accessible to the public. The collaboration between the university and Historic England is intended to be long-lasting with many future projects planned.

The collaboration will allow students to use the ruin as a place to undertake coursework, while Historic England will benefit from the students’ research.

Monika Knul, an Archaeology lecturer at the University of Winchester, said: “We’re using the castle as a teaching resource, for our students to train in real life projects, ongoing research. And at the same time, we’re finding out about the castle, its history and also its older history.”

The older history remains a mystery and “needs to be looked at,” she added.

The students will use “geo-physical” equipment which will enable them to further analyse the ruin, without having to dig anything up. Through this research, the Archaeology department and Historic England are aiming to find out more about a little-known period of history.