Magna Excavations 2025

Book a Place
2025 Excavations
The Magna Excavations are sold out for 2025 season. Any cancelled places will be available to purchase here on a first come first served basis.
If you have questions on the day please take a look at our Excavation Booking FAQs webpage which has many helpful answers.
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, those taking places at Vindolanda fort and those taking place at Magna fort as well as post excavation places.
Here you can find out more about the current Vindolanda excavations and how to book for Vindolanda 2025.
At Magna in 2023 we started a new Scheduled Monument Consent (SMC) find out more about our research and where we’ll be excavating in The Magna Project: 2023-2027 Excavations.
There are different ways to excavate with us:
Joining the team with an Excavate Only Place will give you 2 weeks on the excavations and includes an Excavation T-shirt. This would suit locals or those who wanted to find their own accommodation and can travel to site on a daily basis.
Available 7th July – 15th August 2025 only. An Excavate & Stay Place includes 2 weeks on the excavations and an Excavation T-shirt plus accommodation in our Vindolanda on-site facility the Hedley Centre which is self-catered. You will have access to the communal kitchen/dining area for your meals or you can visit a local eatery. This is 7 miles from the Magna excavation site, you will need to arrange your own transport to site.
What is Involved in Excavating?
Find out more about what’s involved in volunteering the Vindolanda Trust excavations. What to bring, how fit you need to be and what a typical week is like for an excavator at the Vindolanda Trust.
What’s Involved in Excavating?
Cost of Excavation 2025:
Excavate Only Place: £250
Excavate & Stay – Single Room: £1250
Excavate & Stay – Twin Room: £1850
Extra Nights: Single Room £65 Double/Twin: £100
A deposit of £600 for Hedley Centre bookings will be taken at the time of booking. You will receive a confirmation email with a link to final payments.
We ask that all our volunteer excavators become Friends of Vindolanda before they arrive to excavate. This means they 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.
2025 Dates:
Each period is two weeks long and you may book a maximum of one period on any Vindolanda Trust Excavations.
Period 1: 14th April – 25th April 2025 Sold Out.
Period 2: 28th April – 9th May 2025 Sold Out.
Period 3: 12th May – 23rd May 2025 Sold Out.
Period 4: 26th May – 6th June 2025 Sold Out.
Period 5: 9th June – 20th June 2025 Sold Out.
Period 6: 23rd June – 4th July 2025 Sold Out.
Period 7: 7th July – 18th July 2025 (Hedley accommodation available- Transport to site required) Sold Out
Period 8: 21st July – 1st August 2025 (Hedley accommodation available – Transport to site required)Sold Out.
Period 9: 4th August – 15th August 2025 (Hedley accommodation available – Transport to site required) Sold Out.
Period 10: 18th August – 29th August 2025 Sold Out.
Period 11: 1st September – 12th September 2025 Sold Out.
Period 12: 15th September – 26th September 2025 Sold Out.
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.

Excavate Only: Trowel only
Two weeks excavation at Magna Roman Fort and an Excavation T-Shirt

Excavate & Stay Single: Trowel and Bed
Two weeks excavation at Magna Roman Fort and an Excavation T-Shirt, plus self-catered accommodation at the Hedley Centre on site at Vindolanda for one person.

Excavate & Stay Twin/Double: Two Trowels and two Beds
Two weeks excavation at Magna Roman Fort and an Excavation T-Shirts for two people, plus self-catered accommodation at the Hedley Centre on site at Vindolanda for two person.
Vindolanda Excavation places (released on 5th November) will be marked by the same images but in the Vindolanda green and Post-Excavation (released on 6th November) will be in grey.
If you cannot see any of these options displayed and are looking for 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.


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 2025.
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 are working 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.
