Big Ideas By The Sea to stage autumn archaeology and music event in Scarborough
St Mary’s Church will host the latest Big Ideas By The Sea event which comprises an evening of archaeology, exhibitions and live music on Friday October 24.
Earlier this year, the festival’s practical archaeology project The Big Dig was highlighted nationally in being shortlisted for the annual Council of British Archaeology (CBA) Community Archaeology Project of the Year
award.
The Scarborough initiative, which is unique in the UK, offers groups of local primary school pupils the opportunity to experience working on a real archaeological dig, supervised by professionals.
The project has been annually excavating the medieval site at Paradise (adjacent to Paradise House, birthplace of aviation pioneer Sir George Cayley) for the past four years and next year aims to significantly expand
activities in the Old Town to include Scarborough Castle, a scheduled ancient monument.
Titled ‘The Big Dig and Beyond’, the evening features presentations on this year’s excavation results at Paradise by Dawn Haida and Marie Woods, a premiere screening of the 2025 festival video produced by Matt Cooper and news of the Historic Towns Trust local map enterprise from festival co-director John Oxley MBE.
Mr. Oxley, the former City Archaeologist for York will also give a preview of the future of The Big Dig and will outline opportunities for volunteers to get involved in recording finds.
He stated: “This annual autumn Big Ideas By The Sea event has grown into a varied and inspiring evening that combines heritage, film and music – a unique evening forming part of a unique festival here in Scarborough.”
To conclude the evening there will be music from the acclaimed acapella group The Marigolds.
Amongst the headline speakers for the 2026 festival, to be held during the last two weeks in May, are the eminent BBC broadcaster and author Peter Taylor CBE who will be interviewed by the BBC Arts Correspondent David Sillito, both of which are from Scarborough.
A familiar figure within the media since the late 1960’s for both ITV’s This Week and BBC Panorama, Mr. Taylor is renowned for his numerous authoritative television documentaries and accompanying books chronicling ‘The
Troubles’, the protracted decades-long conflict in Northern Ireland.
His latest book, ‘Operation Chiffon – The Secret Story of MI5 and MI6 and The Road to Peace in Ireland’ formed the basis of the recent BBC2 documentary ‘The MI5 Spy and The IRA’.
Additionally, a special one-day archaeology symposium features several key speakers including Professor Charlotte Roberts of Durham University, an internationally recognised expert in the field of human remains.
Confirmation and further details of other main festival events for next year’s programme are scheduled to be announced in January 2026.
‘The Big Dig and Beyond!’ takes place on Friday October 24 from 7pm (Doors open at 6.30pm) at St. Mary’s Church on Castle Road.
Admission to the event is free.
More details can be found at ticketsource.co.uk/bibts
Big Ideas By The Sea festival 2026 runs from Friday May 15 - Saturday May 30.