Funding secured for excavation to unlock secrets of Bronze Age Flag Fen site

Visitors to Flag Fen, near Peterborough in Cambridgeshire, will soon be able to engage more deeply with one of Britain’s most important Bronze Age sites, as a major new excavation gets underway to uncover and record more of its detailed history. 

Flag Fen Archaeology Park sits in a unique Bronze Age landscape that revealed a mysterious timber causeway and platform made by people 3,500 years ago. At the heart of the Flag Fen basin and steeped in pre-history, the park is also a place for nature to thrive. 

Few Bronze Age platform structures survive anywhere in the world. Flag Fen’s scale, complexity and completeness make it nationally significant. 

Flag Fen has been on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register since 2012. The site’s ancient wooden artifacts and fragile organic remains are severely threatened by degrading groundwater levels and the drying out of the surrounding peat, which risks causing “catastrophic loss” of evidence. 

Recent evaluation excavations confirmed that organic remains – including ancient, worked wood – are deteriorating. This new excavation will investigate the site’s western post alignment, with the recording and understanding of new evidence helping to shape how Flag Fen is interpreted and experienced by visitors now and into the future. 

The project will receive £700,000 in grant funding through the Countryside Stewardship Heritage Service, Defra’s partnership with Historic England. Farming Minister Stephen Morgan celebrated the announcement alongside project partners with a visit to the site on Thursday 10 September. 

Farming Minister Stephen Morgan said:  

Flag Fen has survived for thousands of years, offering us an extraordinary window into Bronze Age Britain, and this government wants to keep it that way. 

This funding will help protect the incredible history beneath our feet, while giving nature a boost and helping more people discover the secrets of our ancient past. 

Community involvement 

The excavation project will offer volunteering opportunities for the local community, university students, young carers, and returning volunteers from previous site surveys. Volunteers will receive progressive training, with the aim of giving them the skills to become supervisors and tour leaders. 

Long-term aspirations 

Removing Flag Fen from the Heritage at Risk Register is a key objective of the long-term project to revitalise Flag Fen. Developing the site as a destination that brings Bronze Age heritage to life support the economic development of the Peterborough area and build a lasting community connection to one of Britain’s most extraordinary prehistoric sites. 

Jacqueline Mooney, General Manager, Flag Fen Archaeological Park, said:  

This funding will make it possible for us to excavate and collect evidence that is missing from our understanding of why Peterborough’s Bronze Age settlers built the monumental wooden causeway at Flag Fen.  

We are incredibly thankful that this funding has been granted just in time, as around 40% of Flag Fen’s precious buried archaeology is at serious risk of being lost forever in just a few short months.  

The Causeway at Flag Fen is a monumental example of how our ancestors dealt with their climate change crisis 3,500 years ago, at a time when the very earth beneath their feet turned to marshland and a new landscape was carved out around them.  

We celebrate the causeway for what it is - a huge achievement of human ingenuity that allowed them to not just survive, but to make the most out of the new landscape and thrive.

Claudia Kenyatta CBE and Emma Squire CBE, Co-CEOs of Historic England, said:  

Flag Fen is a rare and nationally significant heritage site, and its proximity to Peterborough makes it a remarkable asset for the area. 

Thanks to the funding from Defra and the collaborative efforts of partners, work can now begin to record and better understand one of the most important parts of the site, helping to secure its future and unlock its full potential.  

Flag Fen offers opportunities to further strengthen Peterborough’s cultural profile and bring economic benefits to the community.  

We hope that local people will take the opportunity to get involved in this project and discover more about their extraordinary local history. 

Cllr Shabina Qayyum, Leader of Peterborough City Council, said:  

Flag Fen is a wonderful and unique attraction, which welcomes visitors from far and wide. We are lucky to have this Bronze Age archaeological site on our doorstep, giving families a rare chance to see ancient archaeology and explore a reconstructed prehistoric landscape. 

I’m absolutely delighted that funding has been made available for this further excavation of the site and look forward to seeing this project progress. This funding also demonstrates the government’s commitment to preserving and enhancing valuable attractions such as Flag Fen, helping to ensure that it can continue to be enjoyed by families for years to come.

Andrew Pakes, MP for Peterborough, said:  

Flag Fen is one of Peterborough’s greatest treasures, and a site of global historical significance. As the local MP, I’ve been proud to champion it in Parliament, because this site deserves the proper recognition and support it needs to fully explore our Bronze Age heritage, so I’m delighted that Defra is now backing this next excavation. 

This funding couldn’t come at a more critical time, as changes in the environment are speeding up decomposition, meaning it’s crucial that archaeologists have the chance to record and preserve irreplaceable evidence before it’s lost for good. This is brilliant news for Peterborough, for our shared history, and for the next generation who will get to learn from what’s uncovered.