Project Background

In 1903, local archaeologist, historian, and naturalist David Dippie Dixon published Upper Coquetdale. In this handsome book, illustrated beautifully by his brother, he introduced the wonderful archaeology of Rothbury and the Coquet valley to both a local and wider audience. To celebrate the centenary of this publication in 2003, Northumberland National Park Archaeologist Paul Frodsham presented an illustrated lecture on the archaeology of Upper Coquetdale in Rothbury, the home town of David Dippie Dixon.

Out of these two events, one hundred years apart, grew the Upper Coquetdale Community Archaeology Project, or Coquetdale Archaeology as it has now become, a community programme to discover more about the archaeology of the area.

David Dippie Dixon, born in 1842, was a well known and much respected character in the Rothbury area. After leaving school in Whittingham, he ran a shop in Rothbury with his brother.During the course of this work, he had many an opportunity to travel widely across Upper Coquetdale, building up a huge knowledge of history and archaeology, as well as learning about the flora and fauna.  On his travels he collected samples, picked up flint arrowheads from the fields, and recorded folk tales and traditional music.

He wrote extensively on all these subjects, not only publishing books but also contributing to newspapers and archaeological journals. The standard of his work was second to none, and today copies of his original works are much sought after by collectors.