ALMOST £230,000 has been awarded to a project to enable archaeological exploration in Bere Ferrers and other locations in the Tamar Valley.

Archaeologists from the University of Exeter will be returning to the area in the summer for the Understanding Landscapes project, which will see community-focused and desk-based activity days to investigate the history and archaeology of Bere Ferrers and Calstock.

The two villages on opposite sides of the River Tamar contain a rich diversity of heritage, spanning the prehistoric through to the post-Medieval periods.

This project, which has a total value of around £317,000, will build upon research by the University of Exeter as part of its Mining in a Medieval Landscape project which led to the unexpected discovery of a Roman fort at Calstock in 2007. There are important aspects of the area’s heritage that have not been explored yet. Sources record that during the Medieval period, Calstock was the centre of royal silver mining industry, with Bere Alston being the first planned mining town in the country.

For the full story, pick up this week’s edition of the Tavistock Times.