Young archaeologist spent £32,000 to unearth medieval village

A young archaeology enthusiast has told how he spent £32,000 on a plot of land to discover if local legend was true and a medieval village lay underneath.

Stuart Wilson had to dig deep and borrow most of the money to buy the four acres in Monmouthshire, south Wales.

So the 27-year-old archaeology graduate was delighted when his suspicions were confirmed with the discovery of four significant buildings and the promise of many more finds to come.

Now he and a team of local archaeology volunteers are looking forward to excavating the rest of the buried settlement.

He has pledged never to sell up and says the project could take his entire lifetime.

"When you are digging four and a half acres with a four inch trowel it takes quite a while. And if I finish with the fields I've bought I can always buy the ones next door and dig those too."

The city of Trellech, once an important centre of raw iron production, was abandoned and fell into ruin some time after 1300 when its ruling family were killed in battle.

A modern village stands nearby and archaeologists had always assumed that the ruins of the old city lay underneath the new buildings.

But extensive searches turned up no evidence and eventually experts began wondering if local folklore that the old village was up in the hills was true.

When the land came up for sale many local enthusiasts talked about buying it, said Mr Wilson, but he decided to take the plunge and took out the loan.

"Everybody was talking about it but I put my money where my mouth is. I told Stephen Clarke, chair of the Monmouth Archaeological Society when he was driving and he nearly crashed the car."

Mr Wilson admitted that he took a gamble on the settlement being under the fields but he said: "At the end of the day I would still have had 4 and a half acres.

"But in terms of what I wanted it for it was a leap of faith."

A former toll collector on the Severn Bridge unmarried Mr Wilson, who lives in Monmouth, is now trying to make his living as a full time archaeologist.

Stephen Clarke, chair of the Monmouth Archaeological Society, said: "Stuart has always been a bit of an eccentric. He's been digging with us since he was knee high and he's just got worse the older he got!

"I'd heard the legend and I never took any notice of it but we couldn't find anything in the village so it started to seem more likely.

"He is quite determined. Never mind houses and sports cars he said it was better than spending the money on a wedding, and probably cheaper too."

Copyright Press Association 2006