Just realized my favorite dig site shut down while I wasn't looking

I used to volunteer every summer at the old Roman villa dig outside Chester, but I stopped going around 2019 when my shifts changed. Last week I drove past the field and the trenches are gone, the marker posts are out, and the site office is a coffee stand. Does anyone know if the team moved somewhere else, or did the funding just run dry after COVID?

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torres.drew5d ago

Wait, are you sure they shut down for good? The villa dig near Chester had a big grant from the county, and last time I checked their site page was still posting updates. Maybe COVID just paused the field work and they moved the whole thing indoors or to a smaller plot nearby. A coffee stand going up in the office does not always mean the team is gone, sometimes they just lease the space out between digs. Have you tried emailing the county archaeology office? They usually know who took over a permit if the original group stepped back.

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