Community Excavations at Magilligan Military Training Estate, County Londonderry, 2021
Channel: The Ulster Archaeological Society
Date: 2022-03-14

Phase 2 - Community Excavations at Magilligan Military Training Estate, County Londonderry, 2021 - Heather Montgomery


With funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, in collaboration with the Ministry of Defence/Defence Infrastructure Organisation (MoD/DIO), and the Binevenagh and Coastal Lowlands LPS (BCLLPS), the Centre for Community Archaeology (CCA) at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) undertook, Phase 2 of the archaeological community excavation at the Magilligan Training Centre, County Londonderry; 13th September - 8th October 2021. This work further investigated the presence and survival of archaeological features and deposits relative to First World War trench construction and their use, as identified during Phase1 reconnaissance excavations,
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Discovery 2021! Conference Programme and Abstracts Ulster Archaeological Society and the Centre for Community Archaeology at Queen’s University Belfast
March 2020 (DSR 136: AE/20/018). It also enabled the accurate interpretation of the physical remains within the camp to be undertaken with the local community working alongside professional archaeologists and members of the BCLLPS team, to increase our understanding of the life of the soldiers and the training regime within the camp during the First World War.

Dr Heather Montgomery is a Military Archaeologist and Excavation Director at the Centre for Community Archaeology at Queen’s University Belfast. She graduated from QUB in 2009 with BA Hon’s in Archaeology. She worked in commercial archaeology before commencing her doctoral studies in 2012. Her research comprised the historical archaeological landscape analysis of Ireland’s First World War training camps; thesis, entitled: Training Kitchener’s New Army, 1914-18: An Archaeological Perspective on the Irish Experience. This study considered the Nature of British military training in Ireland during the First World War (1914-1918) through the evaluation of methods employed in the training of Ireland’s volunteer recruits. This critical examination led to the identification Discovery 2020! Conference Programme and Abstracts Ulster Archaeological Society and the Centre for Community Archaeology at Queen’s University Belfast 10 of previously unrecognised archaeological remains throughout Ireland, illustrating how these remains represent a wealth of unstudied and largely unknown Irish First World War heritage, presenting significant new evidence that challenged the existing historical narrative on the training of the new Irish Divisions.
Heather was Director of the Phase 1 Magilligan First World War Community Excavations in 2020, Co-Director of Ballykinler Archaeological Excavations in March 2019, Director of excavations at Ballykinler Training Estate in 2016 and Co-director of excavations at Grey Point Fort in 2014. She was also Project Officer for Material Cultures and Landscapes for QUB WW1 Engagement Centre and Project researcher and archivist, ‘Men Behind the Glass’ HLF funded research project.
Heather is passionate about public outreach and the positive role heritage, material culture and archaeology can have on people and places. Community and public outreach accounted for a significant part of her work during her doctoral studies. The projects were undertaken at different times throughout the course of her study and were often in collaboration with groups such as the HLF, the HED Defence Heritage Project, the Ministry of Defence and the Irish Defence Forces, Department for Defence. The aims of the projects were to engage members of the public with their local heritage. Heather was responsible for coordinating volunteer groups and school visits (primary, secondary and special needs), an integral part of these community excavations and engagement events. To do this successfully she liaised with representatives from other stakeholders to coordinate interactive group visits to the sites and events. An important element of her work as a Project Officer with the Living Legacies 1914-18 Engagement Centre included functioning as a Facilitator alongside the Council for British Archaeology, designing and delivering interactive workshops to local community groups and if required primary and secondary schools. These workshops were modified, to suit the age, ability and knowledge of the participants.
Heather is a Member of Defence Heritage Advisory Board for Causeway Coast and Glens Heritage Trust (CCGHT), Binevenagh and Coastal Lowlands Landscape Partnership Scheme, a Member of the Royal Engineers Historical Society and the Military History Society of Ireland. She is also a Leader with Belfast Young Archaeologists’ Club.