LATEST NEWS
DETAILS of 13 sites where archaeological digs will take place this coming weekend in Malmesbury have been revealed as Malmesbury’s Big Athelstan Dig begins. Three other sites of archaeological interest will also be open to visit.
Archaeologists from Cotswold Archaeology will be in Malmesbury preparing the various test pit sites for excavation on Thursday and Friday this week with support of students from Malmesbury School who will be learning about the skills and discipline of a dig, the finding, preservation and recording of finds.
Each site will be open to the public from 10.30am to 4pm on Saturday and Sunday (July 6 & 7).
The sites
We're excited about the bunting that is starting to be made for display in Malmesbury town centre this summer as part of the Athelstan 1100 celebrations!
Calling all wannabe actors! Malmesbury is gearing up for a summer of celebrations to commemorate the first king of England – Athelstan 1100.
One of these events is 'A United Kingdom', a play with music and song, telling Athelstan’s life story. This will be performed in Malmesbury Abbey on the 13th and 14th of July with three performances each day.
Hot on the heels of a week long series of features on Ben Prater’s BBC Wiltshire’s Breakfast Show - which has now been summarised into eight delightful minutes,
Athelstan 1100 Speaker Programme tickets are on sale now!
Ten great speakers in super venues with topics that will appeal to all.
Athelstan’s name is embedded deep in the fabric of Malmesbury. Send us a list of all the present and past organisations, businesses and places in and around Malmesbury with Athelstan (or Æthelstan or Aethelstan) in their name. The winner sending us the longest verifiable list by the 31st March 2024 will win a £20 Athelstan 1100 voucher. Email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
Hot ticket news!
Acclaimed historian Tom Holland is coming to Malmesbury on Sunday the 30th June to open the Athelstan Pilgrim Way and will be delivering a brand new talk ‘On the trail of the first king of England: Why Athelstan deserves pilgrims’ at 2:00pm. Tickets for his talk are on sale priced £10.00.
Tickets are now available for our great live performances at Malmesbury Abbey, ‘Oh! Athelstan’ on the 29th June and ‘Athelstan – A United Kingdom’ on the 13th and 14th July.
We are really excited to see Athelstan 1100 becoming part of the fabric of Malmesbury!
Material featuring our very own Athelstan is now available at the Fabric Shack, 43a High Street, Malmesbury.
We are very pleased to announce Barn Owl Books, our local bookshop in Malmesbury, as our book partner for the Athelstan 1100 celebrations.
We are aiming to have 50 banners celebrating Athelstan 1100 from mid May to October, with 30 including contributions from across our whole community. Could one of them be yours?