Bronze Age boat launch set to celebrate Northamptonshire heritage

The National Lottery Heritage Fund-supported project, which has been running at nature reserve Stanwick Lakes, has seen volunteers spend more than 700 hours creating the replica log boats that would have been a common sight on waterways more than 3,000 years ago.

The volunteers even made their own tools from scratch and tested out ancient construction techniques – just as their ancestors would have done.

The celebration of the experimental archaeology project will see the boats launched onto the water as part of a special day designed to shine the spotlight on Northamptonshire history.

Along with celebrating the county’s past civilisations, the event on Sunday, July 21 will also offer visitors the unique opportunity to experience immersive and hands-on heritage activities. There will be displays of bronze casting to show how the tools used by the volunteers were made, and in true Bronze Age fashion, there will even be a ritual sacrifice of tools to try to gain favour before the boat launch.

The heritage work at Stanwick Lakes – which is an environmental charity – is made possible thanks to support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, allowing the team to explore amazing historical stories and deliver heritage projects.

The Big Bronze Age Boat Build project is part of a wider programme exploring this era, which launched after Stanwick Lakes received a grant of £250,000 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, made possible thanks to National Lottery players.

Nadia Norman, Stanwick Lakes’ Heritage Co-ordinator, said: “As we come to the end of this fascinating project, excitement is mounting as we look forward to showcasing the Herculean efforts of our volunteers and putting their creations to the test.

“This project has seen the team learn as they go, as their ancient ancestors would have done. Everything has been done true to the Bronze Age era, from the tools they used to how the boats would have been piloted. Everything’s been done the hard way, so this a huge celebration of these efforts.

“We want people to understand and appreciate the significance of Stanwick Lakes and its history, and to think about what heritage means to them.

“With that in mind, we would love to see the lake lined with people, cheering the boats on, to bring a festival spirit as this unique project draws to a close.

“A huge thank you also needs to go to National Lottery players and The National Lottery Heritage Fund, as without their continued support for heritage, projects like ours would not be possible.”

The volunteers will be joined at the event by archaeologists from Cambridge Archaeological Unit who excavated the Bronze Age site, Must Farm near Peterborough, known as ‘Britain’s Pompeii’ as it is home to some of the most well-preserved settlements. They will have their own display showcasing some of the fascinating archaeology discovered further up the Nene Valley.

The Northants Guild of Spinners, Weavers and Dyers will be demonstrating how people made their clothing thousands of years ago, showing that far from wearing rough sack cloth, people during this time produced fine clothing that wouldn’t be out of place on a modern high street.

The boat project has been supported by Dr James Dilley, an experimental archaeologist and flintknapper specialising in the Stone Age and Bronze Age, who has worked with the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, The British Museum and Yale University, among others.

Dr Dilley brought his experience in making replica boats and tools to the project, starting with the manufacture of replica bronze tools, including 20 axes, chisels and ancient hand tools called adzes.

Using trunks from fallen lime trees from Boughton House estate, the team experimented with different carving and chiselling techniques, while finding that fire was also an effective way to carve out the inside of the boat. They even used the fire to cook food, as people during the Bronze Age may have done thousands of years ago.

Dr Dilley explained that the Stanwick Lakes site is important due to its location on the River Nene, with its connections to other well-known Bronze Age sites such as the Flag Fen basin and Must Farm.

He said: “The heritage of this area is probably one of the most important parts of this project because of these links. It’s quite likely that people would have been moving up and down this area over 3,000 years ago, using the same crafts and tools.”

Nadia added: “The river has been important to ancient settlers in this area for thousands of years – it was how people traded, how they got food and how they travelled, so when we were looking to do our next heritage project, we wanted to do something themed around the river.

“We have spent two years researching through creating, using experimental archaeology to direct the project.

“The volunteers have developed a huge passion for learning about boat building. Their commitment, passion and support for this project has been so moving.

“Here at Stanwick Lakes, we want to offer interactive, hands-on heritage experiences and this project is the perfect example of that. We want Stanwick Lakes to become a destination for heritage, both locally and nationally, and events like the boat launch will help to draw people in.”

Dr Dilley added: “The boat launch will be a spectacle. These boats haven’t been tested so while we hope they will work, there’s every chance we could end up in the water, so as well as being interesting, it might be funny to watch.

“This project is quite hard to pull off, even if you’re working on a high budget television programme, because these boats take so long to make.”

The Big Bronze Age Boat Launch event takes place on Sunday, July 21, from 11am to 4pm.

Stanwick Lakes, located near Rushden in the heart of the Nene Valley, is accessed off the A45.

Full details of the celebration event will be published on the Stanwick Lakes website in the coming weeks.