We are delighted to announce a bumper Cookham dig event at this year’s Festival. Gabor Thomas leads a panel discussion to learn about the latest discoveries from the Dig, how they are pioneering new daily life perspectives on monastic culture at the dawn of English Christianity, and to have your questions answered by project staff and others affiliated to the dig.  This will be followed by a screening of an essay-style documentary by University of Reading students Charlie Severs and Kyle Johnson.  Entitled ‘Screening the Dig’, the film juxtaposes footage from the summer 2023 excavation with reflections on artistic endeavour in Cookham from Stanley Spencer to the present. Artefacts from the Dig will be on display.

​

Gabor Thomas is Professor of Early Medieval Archaeology, University of Reading, and Director of the Cookham excavations. He has varied research interests in the archaeology of this period, but is best known for conducting large-scale community-facing research excavations within the core of currently inhabited settlements to uncover lost Anglo-Saxon monastic and elite centres.