The Ballymoney uncovered field trip

ON Saturday June 12 Ballymoney Museum will be hosting a bus tour to some of the most fascinating archaeological sites in and around the Borough.

Join well-known archaeologist and author Jon Marshall on this journey through a different landscape to the one most of us travel. It is a hidden landscape of places which were once important and have been lost to us for hundreds and thousands of years. The journey takes us to the people who lived here before us, their everyday lives, aspirations, beliefs, hopes and fears and once seen will never be forgotten.

This expansive tour will explore sites dating from 4000 BC to the 1600s, from the Stone Ages to the Plantation of Ulster. It will include Dooey’s Cairn, the best preserved Court Tomb in the Causeway Coast area, the Chi-Rho stone (Old Patrick), the oldest Christian symbol in the Borough, the Celtic ringforts at Stranocum and the early Medieval motte at Drumart.

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From the later Medieval we will visit the Macquillan Tower house at Ballylough and the Bawn at Movanagher, still recognizable from Thomas Raven’s map of 1622. The tour is part of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency's Archaeology Days 2010 programme.

Take this opportunity see these ancient sites, some not normally accessible to the public, brought to life through Jon’s eyes and his entertaining and unique style. Lunch will be provided at Ballymoney Museum, giving participants the chance to see the newly refurbished galleries. The museum’s archaeology collection is now recognized as being of international importance, holding many intriguing finds, from Stone Age tools and Bronze Age treasures to beautiful and rare medieval artifacts.

The day trip costs 10 (including lunch) and will begin promptly at 10.30am, returning at about 4.30pm. Numbers are limited to 30 so pre-booking is essential. The trip itinerary may be subject to change. For further information and booking telephone 028 27 660 230. Suitable outdoor clothing and footwear is essential.