THE professionals are preparing to dig up three large pieces of Wallingford's history in a Time Team-style excavation - and they want Wallingford people involved.

They will be helped by local history buffs and while the work is going on, people at Wallingford will be kept in the picture, as the main sites at Kinecroft and Bullcroft will be open for them to see, closed off for security reasons only at night.

Archaeologist Matt Edgeworth, who will work on the excavations, said: "These digs are a focus of local interest and we want to keep people informed about what is happening.

"We have a duty to show people around and we will be organising at least one open day once work has started."

Finds will go into Wallingford Museum, which is in High Street, opposite the Kinecroft site.

Dr Edgeworth detailed the planned work to members of the town council, as Bullcroft and Kinecroft are council-owned.

The excavations will start on July 19 and continue until August 9.

He said: "We will open up three trenches in Bullcroft, Kinecroft and down by Wallingford Castle. We are sure there will be many finds covering much of Wallingford's history and we want them to stay in the town, in the museum, for local people to see.

"We are working with the museum, which will have leaflets on the digs, and helping us do the physical work will be members of Wallingford Historical and Archaeological Society.

"They helped us with the pre-dig work, when we went over the sites with geophysical equipment, which mapped out areas likely to be of interest."

He added: "We want to involve local people in what is an important part of their own history and the history of what is justly renowned as a remarkable example of an historic defended town that has a specially well-preserved medieval town plan."

The project is part of a series of investigations into the history of the town from Saxon times being carried out by the universities of Leicester, Exeter and Oxford working with English Heritage, the town council, South Oxfordshire District Council and the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.