The Gefrin Trust

Our Trustees met on site this morning for a tour led by Trustee Sarah Semple, a wander around Maelmin with Trustee Roger Miket, and—in the afternoon—sat down for a proper meeting. The future of #Yeavering is in good hands! Stay tuned for exciting news out of Yeavering in the months to come.

The TillVAS Archaeology group came and visited our site today. Thanks for the visit! We’re in the last days of the 2025 #Yeavering dig and are readying for tomorrow’s Trustees meeting.

We’re reaching the excavation’s final days. Though it’s damp on site, nothing dampens our spirits! Here’s Annabelle, an @arcdurham student, who faithfully helps lead👟 tours of site ☔️ rain or ☀️ shine. She—and all at #Yeavering right now—make our site & its stories come to life. Thanks, Annabelle! 👏😊

🌈 #Yeavering

In between the hours excavating, the @arcdurham students at #Yeavering have been enjoying some early medieval games… and donuts 🍩! (Don’t worry - the donuts aren’t 7th-century 😉)

Catch our daily site tour tomorrow at 3pm. #Yeavering #GefrinTrust #Northumberland #DUArchaeology

It’s the #Yeavering team’s day off. 😊 What better way to spend it than to head over to Holy Island & check in on the 10th (final) year of the DU/DV dig! Dr David Petts @arcdurham talks the team through the reopened trenches. We’ve been so lucky to have both digs run concurrently for a few years!

The Yeavering excavation team will be taking a well-earned rest tomorrow (Sunday, 7 September). Today’s site tour is at 3pm as usual. See you there!

#DUArchaeology #Yeavering #GefrinTrust #northumbria #edwin

It’s raining cats🐱 & dogs 🐶 out there! Archaeologists are hearty folk but trenches this wet mean super slippery surfaces.

We’ve cancelled our @gefrintrust site tour for today but will be back at #Yeavering to deliver the usual 3pm tour tomorrow (Thurs, 4 September). Stay dry! ☔️ 💦

Image: @adgefrin

Amy (PhD researcher at Durham) and Brian (Associate Professor at Eastern Washington University & Durham grad) are hard at work cleaning back the trenches here at #Yeavering. What might they find today? Free site tours run daily at 3pm from now until 18 September. #Northumbria #GefrinTrust

Rain or shine, there’s big smiles all around from the Yeavering crew! #YeaveringExcavation #Northumbria #earlymedieval #GefrinTrust #DUArchaeology

Jane also snapped a picture of flowers left by a couple in honour of parents who loved this place. A great reminder of the indelible mark that #Yeavering and its landscape have left on so many. What’re your memories of Yeavering?

One of our Trustees, Jane, stopped by the excavation site this afternoon. The skies look a bit foreboding but the smile on Roger's face tells us that the archaeology is as bright and exciting as usual! #Yeavering

The 2025 Yeavering excavation has commenced with the relocation of the grandstand! Stay tuned for lots more from the trenches. We can't wait to see what the team gets up to! #YeaveringExcavation #Northumberland #DUArchaeology #GefrinTrust

To celebrate the start of the 2025 excavation season, we've just released the Gefrin Trust's recent conversation with Professor Sarah Semple. Read on for more! gefrintrust.org/conversation...

Professor Sarah Semple (Durham University) and team are readying to lay out the trenches at Yeavering for another fantastic season of fieldwork. We can’t wait to see what they get up to! #Yeavering #DurhamArchaeology #GefrinTrust

Want to learn more about Brian Hope-Taylor’s mid 20th-century excavations at #Yeavering? Have a listen to Roger Miket (Trustee, Gefrin Trust) & Prof Ian Ralston’s (Edinburgh) 2024 Society of Antiquaries of London lecture on Hope-Taylor’s years in Northumberland:

www.youtube.com/live/WC8E69M...

Listening to an epic rendition of Beowulf in the glow of the grandstand. #FestivalofArchaeology #Yeavering #Beowulf #Northumbria

On Friday night #TheGefrinTrust, along with our partners #AdGefrin and @arcdurham.bsky.social, lit up the contours of Edwin's palace and grandstand. For the first time in over a millennium, the structures' footprints could be seen against the dramatic backdrop of Yeavering Bell. (Image: A. Jansen)

We’re still buzzing from our 2025 Festival of Archaeology at Yeavering! Hear from Charlotte and Liam, two of our historical reenactors on site. #festivalofarchaeology #yeavering #adgefrin #northumbria

www.instagram.com/reel/DM7b5bN...

The ‘Ripon Jewel’ which was found close to Ripon Cathedral in 1976. Stylistically, it probably dates to the seventh century, and can be viewed in the cathedral treasury. 📷 My own. #SaxonSunday #RiponCathedral

We’ve had a fantastic 2025 Festival of Archaeology at Yeavering. Thank you to all those who came out to site, to learn and share. Particular thanks to our collaborators @arcdurham @adgefrin @aclereenactment. We’re already planning for next year! #FestivalofArchaeology #Yeavering #Northumbria

We’ll be highlighting the stories of our Trustees, including Roger Miket, over the next few months. Stay tuned! #GefrinTrust #Yeavering #Northumbria

We’re here at Yeavering until 4pm! Both the sunshine and Saxons are out in full force! #Yeavering #FestivalofArchaeology #Northumbria

Another well-attended tour of site. We’ve two final tours today — come out and visit us until 4pm!

#Yeavering #FestivalofArchaeology #EarlyMedievalNorthumberland

Go say a hello to Stuart in the ACLE reenactment camp and try your hand at milling grain!

#FestivalofArchaeology #Yeavering #EarlyMedievalNorthumberland

We’re halfway through our second (and final!) day of the Festival of Archaeology at #Yeavering. It’s been brilliant!

We’ve had a fantastic first day. Join us tomorrow for Day 2 of our Festival of Archaeology at Yeavering, Northumberland. Thanks to our co-organisers Ad Gefrin, Durham Archaeology, and Acle. And most of all—thanks to all who showed up! We had a superb turnout!

#Yeavering #EarlyMedievalNorthumbria

Have a find you want identified? Come visit the Portable Antiquities Scheme tomorrow, 2 August 2025 from 10am-4pm.