Northside community group takes home prestigious archaeological award
While digging deep into Dublin’s past, a local northside community programme has been awarded the Archaeological Achievement Award for Public Dissemination or Presentation.
The St Anne’s Park Community Archaeology Programme received this prestigious award at a ceremony held in Belfast on November 28, and was honoured for “exceptional creativity, accessibility, and innovation in sharing archaeology with the public across Ireland and the UK.” This unique programme invites local volunteers to work alongside professional archaeologists to uncover the remains of the former St Anne’s mansion built by the Guinness family.
The programme has connected thousands of people with the rich archaeological and social history of St Anne’s Park. Its extensive outreach includes living history performances, lectures, experimental archaeology events, exhibitions, public talks, community training, and a popular schools programme.
As an ongoing community excavation that first began in 2023, the site has become a dynamic open-air classic that saw 4,000 visitors attend in 2025 alone. To date, volunteers have contributed 714 volunteer days, alongside the Transition Year Tuesdays initiative, which has welcomed 21 students since its introduction.
Lord Mayor Councillor Ray McAdam has congratulated the recipients for their “dedication, creativity, and community spirit.” Having attended an excavation in September alongside transition year students he attested he was “deeply impressed by their work.”
“The project has opened archaeology to people of all ages and backgrounds, fostering curiosity, participation, and pride in our shared heritage. I warmly congratulate everyone involved, the volunteers, students, professional archaeologists, and Dublin City Council teams, on receiving this well-deserved recognition,” Lord Mayor McAdam stated.
The St Anne’s Park Community Archaeology Programme is a collaborative initiative led by Dublin City Council ’s Planning, Property and Economic Development Department (Heritage & Archaeology) and Parks, Biodiversity and Landscape Services, with annual support from the Heritage Council and the Creative Ireland Programme. Delivered by Archaeology and Built Heritage Ltd on behalf of Dublin City Council, the project is a key action of the Dublin City Strategic Heritage Plan 2024–2029.
This content is funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme