Date for Time Team-style dig at Manor House

Members of the public are being invited to take part in the dig which is taking place under professional supervision.

There will be a community archaeology training weekend on March 17 and 18 and there are spaces for 15 volunteers who will need to commit for both days.

Then, from March 19 to 23, there will be a schools' archaeology weekend.

There will also be archaeology open days on March 24 and 25.

The plan is to excavate part of the site in Hall Green Road, West Bromwich, in a bid to 'find' long, lost buildings that were once associated with the Manor House.

Cabinet member for leisure services Councillor Linda Horton said: "This promises to be an exciting event and the local community can get involved to hopefully find some hidden treasures."

Geophysical survey work carried out in 2007 by Birmingham University's archaeology department, identified evidence of buildings and deep excavations across the Manor House site.

It was on land that has seen little disturbance since the probable removal of buildings and the filling of fish ponds in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Using techniques of ground radar and magnetometer surveys, as feature frequently on television programmes such as Time Team, a number of sites of interest were identified.

They include probable barns, dovecote, fish ponds and extensive moats and ditches, enclosing the Manor House.

The existing moat line shows excavations carried out in the 1950s to re-establish a moated site.

The Manor House was originally part of an extensive complex of buildings and enclosures and was the administrative and functional centre of the West Bromwich Manorial estate, which is mentioned in the Domesday Book, but dates back at least to the Anglo-Saxon period.

It is hoped that this will be the first in a series of archaeological projects which will help preserve and enhance knowledge of the borough's heritage.