Volunteer Stories: Stephen Morley

In this blog former volunteer Stephen Morley talks about his involvement in Elder Archaeology and Rochdale Development Agency's 'Broad Filed Slopes' Project and the impact this opportunity has had on his life.

Stephens first site as a Freelance Archaeologist.

In the spring of 2023, during a difficult period of unemployment, I applied for a training course in archaeology hosted and ran by the Rochdale Development Agency and the University of Salford. The course promised an intensive and detailed dive into the ins and outs of modern archaeological practice, and, for me, that was enough; I’ve been obsessed with archaeology since I was a kid (ask my parents!), and was ready to grasp at any chance to get involved that came my way.

The course was as intensive as it promised; ten weeks over a particularly balmy spring and summer in one of Rochdale Town Hall’s hot basement rooms, learning about excavation techniques and stratigraphy and Harris matrices, researching the history of the area, and getting to know my fellow volunteers and our wonderful teacher, Dr Colin Elder, we burned through “a degree’s worth of information” in that time, and came out the other side as fast friends and competent amateur archaeologists.

As the ten weeks raced by, Colin and the County Archaeologist, Ian Miller, believed my fellow volunteers and I were ready to support Salford Archaeology in running the community dig. As daunting an idea as this was, we were all more than up for it, and Colin and Ian’s belief in us meant the world. Together, we helped over a thousand volunteers to excavate Rochdale’s Victorian corn mill, which had laid undisturbed beneath Broadfield Park for nearly a century.

I can’t really begin to quantify what a difference this opportunity has made to me, but if I had to do so, I think the main three ways are as follows:

The friends and connections I have made off the back of it – my fellow volunteers, our teacher Colin, myriad other members of RDA and Salford Archaeology such as Jordan Perris and Ian Miller, other volunteers not from the course, etc – are more than enough reason to call the whole thing a massive success. I am still friends with them all to this day; we keep in touch through email, text, WhatsApp groups, and of course through other digs, and on occasion meet up for drinks or barbecues. They’re friends for life.

The doors that have opened for me have probably had the greatest impact; I now work as a freelance archaeologist professionally, and absolutely adore my job – not something that many people can say. My skill-set has come on leaps and bounds since starting, with my professional colleagues all being the loveliest people with the patience of saints, and, with luck and hard work, I’ll continue to work in the business for years to come.

Finally, it gave me something to get out of bed for. Since Covid, my prospects had been pretty much down in the dumps, alongside my mood. But the course has genuinely given me renewed purpose. You could ask my partner what a difference it has made for me, she’d tell you the same – it has reinvigorated my life.

All in all, that spring and summer of 2023 was a real magical period. I had the most brilliant time and I will never forget it.

-Stephen Morley