Children at St John’s Primary School in Warminster got a chance to dig around under their school last week during a visit by TV archaeologist Julian Richards.

Mr Richards, presenter of Meet The Ancestors, has been visiting schools in the county as part of the What’s Under Your School project, to encourage an interest in archaeology.

With his help and that of fellow archaeologist Clare Ryley, the Year 6 children at St John’s found flint tools, one as much as 6,000 years old, clay pipes, Victorian pottery and cow bones.

They chose to excavate the land where, over the summer, a new four- classroom building will be constructed, ensuring any potential finds wouldn’t be lost.

Teacher Sarah Nicholls said: “Julian and Clare told them all about the different artefacts we found, and the differences between the bits of flint, so you can tell when they were made.

“They learned how to mark out the site properly and use the tools to gently scrape away the layers of soil without damaging anything.

“They also learned about the different soil layers, and went quite a way down until they reached greensand.

“After the digging they all had to carefully sort out their finds and put them into plastic bags.

“It was a bit of a history lesson and a bit of a geography lesson and a lot of fun. They got a bit wet on Wednesday, but they all had their wellies on.

“It was also a nice way for the Year 6 children to get involved with the new buildings, which of course they won’t be able to use, before they leave.”

Mr Richards will return to the school in the next academic year to look at the history of the school with Years 5 and 6.

He said: “It is a local project we set up with the Council for British Archaeology, visiting schools in the south Wiltshire and Dorset area, because both Clare and myself live in Shaftesbury.

“It is a bit of a pilot project really, what we want to achieve is to show children that history is really all around them, and all these objects have a story to them.

“The kids at St John’s were great they all took to it very quickly.”