Eleanor Kingston
Eleanor is the Lake District National Park (LDNP) archaeologist. Between 2016 and 2018, in addition to supporting her network of 70 volunteers, she actively engaged local communities in ‘hands on’ archaeology which benefitted the historic environment of the park. She has designed and managed a number of Heritage Lottery funded projects in this time, encouraging local communities and schools to get involved and engage with their local historical environment. Eleanor has been responsible for the LDNP Volunteer Network since 2014 which has seen volunteers from local communities undertake an annual programme of surveys, conservation work and archival research. She also organises an annual public conference on archaeology in the Lake District which displays and shares the findings of her community projects. Interest in community archaeology in the LDNP is on the rise and this is largely due to Eleanor’s efforts. Her enthusiasm, leadership, support and encouragement have seen a growing number of people involved in delivering successful community projects.