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2026 Excavations

Booking for the 2026 Vindolanda Excavation launched on 4th November 2025.

The Vindolanda Trust believes that archaeology and history are for everyone and to give as many people the opportunity to participate on our excavations we limit the number of excavation periods a person can attend to one per person. This applies across both Vindolanda Trust excavations and post excavation places, those taking place at Vindolanda and Magna forts. 

Please visit our Excavation Booking FAQs page if you have more questions about booking your place.

There are different ways to excavate with us: 

There are different ways to join the excavation at Vindolanda, with or without accommodation, bursary schemes and more. You can find out more about the different types of ticket available here.

What is Involved in Excavating?

Find out more about what's involved in volunteering on our excavations. What to bring, how fit you need to be and what a typical week is like for an excavator at Vindolanda Roman Fort.

What's Involved in Excavating?

Cost of Excavation 2026:

Excavate Only Place: £275

Excavate & Stay - Single Room: £1350

Excavate & Stay - Twin Room: £1950

Excavate & Stay - Single Suite Room: £1950

Extra Nights: Single Room £70  Double/Twin: £105

Philanthropic Place (Excavate Only): £2000

A deposit of £275 for Hedley Centre and Philanthropic bookings will be taken at the booking stage. You will receive a confirmation email with information about final payments. This year we’re asking people to pay their remaining balance by bank transfer (BACS or IBAN), this means instead of paying transaction processing fees more of your money supports our charitable work.
BACS – preferred for UK payments
IBAN – preferred for non-UK payments
Online shop – available if you can’t pay by bank transfer

We ask that all our volunteer excavators become Friends of Vindolanda before they arrive to excavate. This is not included in the ticket price. Becoming a member means you will be able to visit our sites outside of the excavations and will be invited to our annual Friends Day which rounds up the year and the excavations.

2026 Dates:

Each period is two weeks long and you may book a maximum of one period on any Vindolanda Trust Excavations. 

Period	Dates
Period 1	30th March - 10th April 2026  - Fully Booked
Period 2	13th April - 24th April 2026 - Fully Booked
Period 3	27th April- 8th May 2026 - Fully Booked
Period 4	11th May - 22nd May 2026 - Full Booked
Period 5	25th May - 5th June 2026 - Fully Booked
Period 6	8th June - 19th June 2026 - Fully Booked
Period 7	22nd June - 3rd July 2026 - Fully Booked
Excavation Break	Excavation Break
Period 8	3rd - 14th August 2026 - Fully Booked
Period 9	17th - 28th August 2026 - Fully Booked
Period 10	31st August - 11th September 2026 - Fully Booked
Period 11	14th September - 25th September 2026 - Fully Booked

Booking your place:

Each ticket type has a different icon make sure to click on the correct ticket type for what you are after, tickets are non-transferable.

Vindolanda Excavation places: released on the 4th November and icons in green.

Magna Excavation places: released on 14th October and icons in red.

Post-Excavation: places released on 4th November icons in grey.

If you cannot see any of these options displayed and are looking before the launch it means they are not yet available for purchase. If you cannot see them and are looking after the launch it may mean they are sold out.

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Please note we are aware that the demand for our excavations places exceeds the number available. As a result we acknowledge there will be disappointed people who have not managed to secure a place in 2026.

If you have questions on the day please take a look at our Excavation Booking FAQs webpage which has many helpful answers.

We understand how frustrating it can be to try to get a place and not being successful. Our team work very hard to make the booking process as streamlined and fair for everyone who would like a place. However, there will always be disappointed people who haven't managed to get a spot on the excavations due to the sheer demand.

Our staff are here to help you. The majority of our customers are wonderful, are respectful and polite. We ask that you please show our staff respect and treat them with kindness. They are only doing their job and will therefore not tolerate any sort of verbal abuse. The Vindolanda Trust reserves the right to remove people from the excavations who do not act in accordance with our values.

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