AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL dig at an Iron Age hillfort has entered into a second week of discovery.

The four-week dig at Eddisbury Hill, in Delamere Forest, is part of a Habitats and Hillforts project to re-excavate trenches that were originally opened up between 1936 and 1938.

The team aims to expose sections of the ramparts and one of the entrances and recover charcoal samples for carbon dating.

Students from Liverpool University have joined in the excavation this week and are looking at an area of the hillfort known as Merrick’s Hill.

They will be hosting an open afternoon from 3pm to 5pm on Saturday, July 31, to show what they have uncovered.

Dan Garner, project officer at the dig, gave the Guardian his report on progress from week one.

He said: “The first week of excavation at Eddisbury Iron Age hillfort has concentrated on re-excavating one of the hillfort entrances.

“The work so far has revealed spectacular preservation, with the stone flanking walls of the entrance still standing to approximately 1.5m in height.

“We have also started to uncover parts of two stone built ‘guard chambers’ on the interior of the entrance and the sockets that would have originally contained the timber gate posts.

“This trench will be extended during our second week in order to uncover the stone front of the hillfort’s rampart and the full extent of the entrance.

“The only artefacts recovered so far have been associated with the 1938 trench backfill.

“Nevertheless, they have included pieces of 18th century pottery, glass and a clay tobacco pipe, as well as a glazed brick of late 16th or early 17th century date, which probably formed part of a fireplace in one of the nearby farm buildings.”

Over a three-year period, Habitats and Hillforts aims to conserve and enhance the string of six important Iron Age hillforts along the sandstone ridge and their associated habitats.

For more information visit habitatsandhillforts.co.uk or contact Dan Garner at dan.garner@cheshirewestand chester.gov.uk.