Dig Diary Archive
Read archive reports of our work on the battlefield of Waterloo.

New Year’s Dig Diary
In the first Dig Diary of 2021, we learn how one of our veteran participants has been helping in the fight against COVID as a ...
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December Dig Diary
In the last Dig Diary of 2020, we review a challenging but successful year, and look ahead to the future of Waterloo Uncovered ...
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November Dig Diary
In this special fundraising edition of Waterloo Uncovered's Dig Diary, we bring you news of a brave skydiving challenge, our plans for a word record ...
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October Dig Diary
In this month's dig diary, we look at the effect coronavirus has had on archaeology, update you on an upcoming miniature model of Waterloo, and ...
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July Dig Diary
Read on to find out what Waterloo Uncovered have been up to in July, including our nomination for a Charity Times Award, test pitting in ...
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June Dig Diary Part 2
Catch up on the latest Waterloo Uncovered news including a new comic, a look back at #WaterlooWeek and an update on our Summer School programme ...
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June Dig Diary Part 1
Catch up on the latest Waterloo Uncovered news, including your chance to get involved in creating a large scale diorama of Waterloo; an update on ...
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April Dig Diary
Welcome to the April edition of Waterloo Uncovered's Dig Diary! Read on to find out what the WU family have been up to, including an ...
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Spring Dig Diary
WU's Spring Update - find out about what we've been up to in 2020... from being published to winning awards, it's all go! ...
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Winter Dig Diary
This Winter, we've been busy! Catch up with all the Waterloo Uncovered news today ...
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Dig Diary Day 10: 2019 Recap
A Cornucopia of Cornfield Finds Where have we been? A large cornfield near Mont-Saint-Jean farm. What did we find? A large amount of musket balls, a 6-inch unexploded howitzer ...
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Dig Diary Day 9: Bombs and Buttons
An Explosive Discovery In a field in the vicinity of Mont-Saint-Jean farm, an earth-shaking find was discovered yesterday afternoon. Serving Coldstream Guardsman Oliver Horncastle, whom ...
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Dig Diary Day 8: Poignant Proof of the Human Cost of Battle
A Possible Amputation Pit? In the orchard of Mont-Saint-Jean, Waterloo Uncovered’s metal detectorists picked up a signal that indicated the presence of a large metal ...
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Dig Diary Day 7: Military Medicine and Well Diving
Military Medicine at Mont-Saint-Jean This morning, retired consultant, curator of the Royal College of Surgeons and curator of the Military Surgical Museum at Ferme de ...
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Dig Diary Day 6: Mass Musket Balls and Scots Guard Buttons
It’s the first day of our second week here at Waterloo Uncovered! After a weekend of recovering from their exhausting hard week last week, the ...
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Waterloo Weekend Diary: Weapons, Women and Wet Weather
#WaterlooWeekend Open Day The working week may be over, but a group of veterans, archaeologists and students donned their hi-vis jackets regardless yesterday morning. Their ...
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Dig Diary Day 5: Bringing History to Life
Redcoats Return As the first week of Waterloo Uncovered 2019 draws to a close, the sites of Hougoumont and Mont-Saint-Jean have once more been been ...
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Dig Diary Day 4: Behind the Scenes
As the first fantastic week of Waterloo Uncovered 2019 nears its end, we’re taking you behind the scenes of the dig and shining a light ...
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Dig Diary Day 3: Of Reading, Remembering and Ridges
Reading to Remember 2019 When Private John Peter Leonhard first laid eyes on Hougoumont farm, he recounted the utter hopelessness the sight instilled in him; ...
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Dig Diary Day 2: Musket Balls at Mont-Saint-Jean
Evidence of Evacuation? In our freshly dug trenches along the east edge of the Mont-Saint-Jean orchard, an exciting discovery is in progress. The farm of ...
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Dig Diary Day 1: Waterloo Uncovered Rides Again
Battlefield Beginnings On Sunday 7th of July, the Waterloo Uncovered team gathered at the main museum on the Waterloo battlefield, Memorial 1815, to officially kick ...
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The Last Dig Diary of 2018
It has been wonderful to be on site and to be part of this amazing community. Who knew that such a diverse group of strangers ...
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Descendants: Julian and Ben Parker
Julian and Ben Parker, a father and son duo on site have a very tangible link to the battle of Waterloo. Julian, an ex army ...
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Descendants: Battlefield Tour
At Waterloo Uncovered, we often get visitors whose ancestors fought in the battle. Last Friday, we were visited by a group who toured the battlefield ...
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Dig Diary 8: New Trenches, Ancient Artefacts
Day 8 has been an exciting day with two new trenches dug in promising places! At the end of the Dig Diary, we will give ...
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WU People: Sam Wilson
Sam Wilson, explaining the lifecycle of a trench to participants Sam Alexander Wilson (30) is a professional archaeologist from Basingstoke. He’s been part of the Waterloo ...
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Dig Diary 7: Blazing Heat and Mystery Button
We’re getting a much clearer sense of the physical features of the battle landscape. In today’s dig diary we’re going to look at work on ...
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Dig Diary 6: Breaking New Ground
It’s Monday. The week has started again, and we are excited to be back digging. Today, there’s more evidence for how archaeology creates as many ...
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Dig Diary Weekend: The Past Come Back to Life
Waterloo Uncovered Archaeology Weekend An important part of our work is to tell people about what we do. This year, for the first time, we ...
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WU People: Sebastiaan Loche
Sebastiaan Loche, featured in front of Château d’Hougoumont WU People: Sebastiaan Loche Sebastiaan Loche (43) from Zwolle in the Netherlands, is a veteran serving in ...
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Dig Diary 5: Finding the Foundation and Getting Creative
It’s Friday Finds Day! Check our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter posts to see the highlights of this week. We’ve had success at the Garden Wall excavations – ...
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WU People: Hans Droppert
Hans Droppert, hard at work cleaning a musket ball Hans Droppert (63) is a veteran of the Dutch Royal Navy Reserve from Heinkenszand (NL). He ...
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Day 4: An Extraordinary Coincidence and the Renovation Excavation
We are starting to understand what happened inside the Northern Gate. Unfortunately, sometimes we are getting a better picture of what happened in that place ...
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WU People: Sylvain Robert-Malbete
Sylvain Robert-Malbete, learning about Hougoumont Sylvain Robert-Malbete (23) is a Coldstream Guardsman from London. He is learning more about metal detecting and Napoleonic history while ...
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WU People: Max Marwick
Max Marwick with his new trowel Max Marwick (22) is a student of history at Sussex University, Brighton. After the summer, he’ll start the second ...
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Day 3: War Letters and the Lost Pond
Today, we have been working hard to make it back home in time for the match (in case you ask: England are playing Croatia in ...
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WU People: Keanie Trick
Keanie Trick Keanie Trick (23) is an aircraft technician from Devon, UK. This year’s her second time on the dig. Keanie (named after actor Keanu ...
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Day 2: Coins, Buttons and Promises
Whereas we felt so welcomed by the sun two days ago, today was a different story: the skies are grey and the temperature has dropped ...
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Day 1: Breaking New Ground; and How to be an Archaeologist
The day starts off with a short debriefing. We are warned of the massive-but-noiseless cows that may suddenly appear and are easily startled. After some ...
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Day 0: It’s Great to Be Back!
It feels as if the Belgian sun could not wait to see us return, either. On the one hand this is great: we could not ...
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Day 11 – The Last Day
It was a weird feeling coming on site this morning. The team was ready to get back to work, but at the same time, we ...
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Day 10 – Touring the trenches
The project is starting to come to a close. After a week and a half of digging and excavation, the teams are now in the ...
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Day 9 – A Coldstream Guard’s Button
The Weird-Wobbly-Wednesday-Dip has kicked in full force. People were tired, and when we arrived on site it was hot and muggy, which did not help ...
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Day 8 – Waterloo Uncovered makes the news
Water and sun cream was our main priority today. After a dreary Monday, Tuesday was sunny and hot. While the sun was much appreciated, many ...
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Day 7 – Winter is coming
After a well-deserved weekend in which we either explored what Belgium had to offer or the poolside of the hotel, the group was ready to ...
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Day 6 – Today, we fight
With the prospect of a relaxing weekend, everyone was eager to start digging today. The digging continued in all of the trenches, as well as ...
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Day 5 – Watermooo Uncovered
Morning brief in the sun. After the rain we had yesterday, today was incredibly sunny. Luckily, the tents provide some shade, but Cornelius’ “don’t forget ...
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Day 4 – Rain and Readings
Today’s dig started off rainy and overcast. This, however, did not dampen morale, and everyone was excited to get digging. Tents were set up over ...
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Day 3 – Different perspectives
Fritz, a Dutch veteran hard at work in the formal gardens. Yesterday on our first day of digging, the first trenches to be opened were ...
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Day 2 – WU Firsts! La Ferme de Mont-Saint-Jean & the new WU Podcast!
Phil Harding whipping his team into shape! The Day 1 Dig Diary stated that the 2017 field season is a year of firsts, and not ...
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Day 1 – The Waterloo Tour
Sunday was the first official day of Waterloo Uncovered 2017! After a long journey for many of our team members (many arriving en masse by ...
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Day 11 UPDATE – The final trenches
Today the final trenches were opened. They were in the east end of the killing zone and ran from the base of the garden wall ...
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Day 9 UPDATE – Mysteries and discoveries!
Phil’s team has been working very hard trying to find the original front wall of the building that stood against the north wall of the ...
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Day 8 UPDATE – More info than ever before!
Stu and his crew have been very busy creating a data base. They collected all the data provided by the survey team and put it ...
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Day 7 UPDATE – The battle of the Somme
Today, Waterloo Uncovered visited the site of the battle of the Somme and remembered those who fought and died on those fields 100 years ago ...
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Day 6 UPDATE – Achievements so far
We’re now at the half way mark and our teams have done exceptionally well. Everyone’s put in a lot of work and all of the ...
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Day 5 UPDATE – special guests and excellent archeology!
Today we had a surprise visit from the Duke of Wellington! He first visited to Hougoumont was with his grandfather 58 years ago, and ever ...
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Day 4 UPDATE – Uncovering trench 45
David Ulke, an ex-RAF nursing officer, is one of the team excavating trench 45 in the courtyard under the supervision of Phil Harding. The survival ...
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Day 3 UPDATE – Reading to remember
We’re on day 3 of our two week dig and things are going great! Everybody’s working hard on the unravelling of the battle and our ...
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Day 2 UPDATE – BRICK WALLS AND MUSKET BALLS
“Yesterday, I felt a bit like Napoleon,” said Tony Pollard with a smile. The reason was because the battle in 1815 didn’t start off until ...
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Day 1 UPDATE – Back at it again!
So here we are! The Waterloo Uncovered team of 2016 has found its way back to Belgium. We’ve got people from all over the place, ...
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Day 10 update – The great debate
We’re moving towards the end of our second week at Hougoumont Farm and the time just seems to fly by. Before we know it, it ...
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Day 9 update- A few finds
The finds coming out of Hougoumont Farm tell many different stories, some of battles, some of home life and some of modern life. It makes ...
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Day 8 update – Digging in the rain, just digging in the rain
Phil Harding, President of Defence Archaeology Group There are positives to digging in the rain… no really there are! Firstly, the rain changes the look ...
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Day 5 update – a recap on last week
We’re back for another week of excavating after a much needed rest over the weekend but before we launch into new discoveries and points for ...
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Day 4 update – Have we found Clay’s ammunition?
Day 4 of our two week dig and we’ve turned our attention to an area that is referred to as the sunken way, a ditch ...
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Day 3 update – Bottles, Brick pathways and a Belgium Blue
Things are really taking shape here at Hougoumont as we reach day 3 although sharing a field full of Belgium Blues certainly creates a few ...
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Day 2 update – Ready, aim, fire!
French musket ball with brick dust Whilst we continue to explore our trenches in the walled garden a lot of our attention has been on ...
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Day 1 update – We’re back and the finds are ‘firing’ in!
The countdown is over, we’re finally here at Hougoumont Farm and it feels so good to back. What was instantly noticeable since our visit in ...
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