Breaking ground on the IAA project at Delapré Abbey

Delapré Digs: Archaeology for Wellbeing

IAA project type: Partnership grant

Duration of project: August 2023 to February 2024

Partner organisation: Delapré Abbey Preservation Trust (DAPT)

Individual partner: Eleanor Sier, Head of Engagement and Interpretation

Project aims

In partnership with Delapré Abbey Preservation Trust (DAPT) and Northampton General Practice Alliance (GPA), Delapré Digs: Archaeology for Wellbeing aims to create positive well-being impacts for Northampton’s underserved communities through socially prescribed archaeological activity.

The project seeks to establish a long-term mutually beneficial partnership between MOLA and DAPT to deliver long-term wellbeing impacts for Northampton’s communities and meet local health needs and priorities.

Audiences

  • Approx 12 hyper-local Northampton community members who fit the criteria for social prescribing (i.e. those with low to moderate mental health needs, suffering from loneliness or isolation and/or chronic, long-term health conditions.).
  • MOLA staff
  • Delapré Abbey Preservation Trust
  • Northampton General Practice Alliance
  • West Northamptonshire Council

Project plan

Archaeology and heritage is increasingly being used as an engagement tool to improve wellbeing of a wide range of audiences across the UK including veterans (Waterloo Uncovered, Operation Nightingale), adult citizens (Archaeology on Prescription) and young people (Project Rejuvenate). Research shows that taking part in archaeological activity can have positive psychological impact through fostered connection with others, increased knowledge, improved confidence and being physically active (e.g. Brizi et al 2023, Everill et al 2020).

At MOLA, we are embarking on a new pilot project at Delapré Abbey to improve the wellbeing of the residents of Northampton using archaeology. Delapré Digs: Archaeology for Wellbeing, in partnership with Delapré Abbey Preservation Trust (DAPT) and Northampton General Practice Alliance (GPA), will see up to twelve Northampton residents referred onto a six week programme of archaeological and creative activities. This will include a range of things such as excavation and finds processing as well as pottery making and artefact illustration. Participants will come together one day a week to learn about archaeology, discover the history of Delapré Abbey, get creative and hopefully make new friends - all fuelled by tea and cake of course!

Overall, the project seeks to contribute to the ongoing research within the sector, measuring the wellbeing impacts of engaging in archaeology on the people who take part. MOLA staff will be trained and upskilled in working with vulnerable adults in the hope that Delapré Digs can become a sustained community-led programme delivered by the MOLA Northampton Engagement Team in a long-running partnership with DAPT.

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Historic photograph of a narrowboat on the Rochdale Canal

IAA grants

Our Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) grants support public impact projects between our staff and UK-based non-academic partners...

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A person recording a video using a smartphone and stabliser gimbal. They are recording some grain samples being processed.

Impact

For nearly 50 years we have delivered creative, ground-breaking archaeological research and public engagement. Find out how this has influenced people locally, regionally, nationally, and worldwide...

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A young person holding an archaeological find while another young person takes a photograph

Legacy building from community excavations

IAA Project type: Networking grant

Duration of project: October 2023 to October 2024 

Partner organisation: Valance House Museum

MOLA staff leading IAA grant: Cat Gibbs

Individual partners: Leeanne Westwood and Stacey Hickling  

Project aims

There are limited opportunities for young people from diverse and underrepresented communities to engage with their local history and heritage professionals in a way that is co-created by and for them. While there are several heritage groups in the area, none are open to, or targeted at, local young people. 

The key aims for this project were: 

  • Engaging young people with their local heritage, developing key life skills and increasing wellbeing.  

  • Building on existing contacts and reaching out to new heritage and youth organisations to create a heritage network. 

  • Establish an active and inclusive youth heritage group (YHG) for the area, supported and maintained by the network, to continue a legacy of placemaking. 

Audiences

  • Young people from the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham 

  • Local youth focused organisations 

  • Local heritage organisations interested in engaging younger members.

The project

This project aimed to provide a legacy to the community excavation at Valence House in 2022, which demonstrated an appetite for meaningful and practical youth engagement with local heritage. 

We reached out to local youth and heritage organisations to create a network to support young people aged 14-18, to empower them to develop, co-ordinate and establish an active and inclusive Youth Heritage Group (YHG) for the area. 

The network aimed to identify barriers to current heritage engagement activities, enabling the YHG to explore the legacy of MOLA and Valence House projects, taking an active part in the development, interpretation and advocacy for their local heritage with the overall aim of raising pride in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. 

Through co-designed workshops, young participants designed and created a short film, which was presented at an end of project celebration event. These activities helped the young participants develop key life skills including team working, time management, problem solving and critical and creative thinking, and improve wellbeing. 

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A temporary shelter in a wood filled with bluebells

Networking grants

Networking grants offer up to £15,000 per project for MOLA staff to establish working relationships (networks) with new and unusual partners...

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