Archaeological Services for Victorian Jubillee Fountain Refurbishment

Tender description

This Invitation to Tender (ITT) has been prepared for the provision of a community archaeological programme. MTC is looking to contract an archaeologist to help deliver some of the key outputs of its project “Turning on the Tap, Restoration of the Jubilee Fountain, Monmouth”. The project will: 1. restore the fountain to working order, giving it a prominence that will ensure its care long into the future and 2. use the restoration and its associated programme of community engagement to: • celebrate Monmouth’s heritage by bringing it to a new, larger and more diverse audience; • encourage and help underpin long-term environmental sustainability; • change ideas and activities about fountains, water and waste; • promote and support community wellbeing; • help boost the local economy and • help make Monmouth a better place to live work and visit. MTC and the MFG have given considerable thought as to how best to deliver the outputs listed above. Following detailed consultation with local archaeologists (Churchill Archaeology and MonArchaeology) it was decided that a professionally designed and delivered community archaeological programme based in Overmonnow, would be an inspirational way of exciting local people about heritage and ensuring long-term conservation and understanding. A suitable site has been identified at Overmonnow Primary School with the school anxious to host the programme. The programme will be used to link the history of the Jubilee Fountain to the wider heritage of Overmonnow, the parish served by the fountain, and Monmouth itself. Under appropriate supervision, the programme will offer the rare opportunity for young people and people from the local communities of Overmonnow, Monmouth and the surrounding area to participate in an archaeology programme designed to: • research the history of the fountain placing it in the context of Overmonnow and Monmouth; • draw the community into the project and heritage of the area by giving young people and the not so young, the opportunity to investigate their environment and all it contains; • ensure long-term future conservation and understanding by exciting the local community about their heritage; • offer a range of skill building opportunities and inspire children and adults about history through practical skills; • enrich the knowledge and understanding of Overmonnow in a local, regional and possibly a national context. The Town Council are looking for an archaeologist to deliver this project. Full details of the programme can be obtained from Paula Hartley at townclerk@monmouth.gov.uk