If Saxon and Roman history excites your youngsters then get the summer holidays off to a good start by taking them down to an exhibition at Leatherhead Museum.

The archaeological exhibition focuses on local archaelogical excavations as part of the national Festival of Archaeology.

Displays explain the work of the Surrey Archaeological Society and the professional Surrey County Archaeological Unit (SCAU).

Meanwhile the museum houses artefacts from a Roman villa discovered in Ashtead and information on the recent excavation of a Saxon burial ground at Hawk’s Hill in Fetcham.

Eighteen skeletons, which were unearthed with beads, spears and other burial goods at Hawk’s Hill, have been sent to Southampton University for study before reburial.

Below pictures of the graves themselves there is a display case with Roman tiles, brooches, pieces of pottery, bronze tweezers and coins.

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Steward Andy Halmilton 

Nearby are bronze fragments, including one piece decorated with a face, which are thought to be the remains of a unique Saxon ceremonial bucket. There are also swords and spear heads.

David Hartley, chairman of the Leatherhead and District Local History Society, said it was crucial not just to document recent history, but to delve all the way back to prehistoric times.

Mr Hartley said: "It is important youngsters should have knowledge of their past. You hopefully get a wider picture on where we have come from. The thing is not to make it dry and dusty."

He added: "It’s not just a local history museum but it has an archaeological interest in the area."

The rest of the museum is an eclectic mix of everything from gas masks and flints found in people’s gardens to lighters made locally and the steering wheel of speed record breaker Donald Campbell.

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The dig at Hawk's Hill

Hampton Cottage, which was home to a falconer’s window during the 17th century, was later turned into a Baptist church and became the Leatherhead Museum and Heritage Centre in 1980.

And if the museum sparks your interest in archaeology, there is the opportunity to take part in the excavation of the Roman villa and tile works on Ashtead Common from the end of August.

Mr Hartley said a third structure was discovered there during a dig two years ago, adding: "This one shows evidence of being a proto villa before the main villa was built, but it’s too early to say." A dig at Church Meadows, in Ewell, on July 13 was among the more than 1,000 events organised by community groups, local archaeologists, the National Trust and English Heritage for the Festival of Archaeology.

The festival, organised by the Council for British Archaeology, ncourages people to get their hands on history by taking part in digs and activities.

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The Saxon cemetery in Hawk's Hill

Dr Mike Heyworth, director of the Council for British Archaeology, said: "Archaeology is key to understanding who we are as humans, where we have come from and where we might be going.

"Traces of that history are all around us, dating back almost 800,000 years to the first signs of early humans in the UK. But if that evidence is not properly looked out for, or its significance is not understood by the public, we risk losing it forever."

To sign up for the dig on Ashtead Common organised by the Roman Studies Group, between August 28 and September 20, contact Irene Goring on irene@greenhayes.plus.com or call 01737 362025.

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Festival of Archaeology, until Sunday

Leatherhead Museum is open Thursdays and Fridays, between 1pm and 4pm, and Saturdays between 10am and 4pm

64 Church Street, Leatherhead

Call 01372 386348

Email Staff@lheadmuseum.plus.com

Visit www.leatherheadlocalhistory.org.uk