ARS Ltd Turns 15 Years Old!

The opening of our Bakewell office in January 2005.
The opening of our Bakewell office in January 2005.
The opening of our second office in Tyneside.
The opening of our second office in Tyneside.

It’s our birthday!

This year, ARS Ltd. is celebrating 15 years in operation as an incorporated company.

We were founded initially, in 1999, by our Managing Director, Dr Clive Waddington, when the business operated out of Newcastle as a one-man operation, but on the 18th August 2004 we were incorporated as a limited company in Sheffield.

Success and expansion followed and in January 2005 we opened our current headquarters in Bakewell and in November later that year we opened a regional office in Newcastle. From these beginnings in 2004 we have become a nationwide business operating out of five offices with over 50 members of staff.

We have completed hundreds of projects throughout Britain, some of which have featured on numerous programmes including Time Team, Digging for Britain, Countryfile, Secret Britain, and BBC News, to name only a few!

Since the very beginning it has been our mission to use archaeology to inspire and contribute to society and we are proud to have had over 5000 volunteers excavate with us on various projects over the years. Many of our volunteer projects have been honoured with national awards such as our collaborative work with local groups at the Iron Age hillfort of Fin Cop where over 400 people took part in a project which won Best Community Project at the 2010 British Archaeological Awards, as well as Research Project of the Year at the 2012 Current Archaeology Awards.

Every year we sponsor approximately 10-20 radiocarbon dates through the CARD Fund © Copyright ARS Ltd 2021
ARS Ltd. staff and volunteers during the excavation at Fin Cop hillfort.
ARS Ltd. staff and volunteers during the excavation at Fin Cop hillfort.

We have been really keen to make sure that everything we do is accessible to those with an interest or passion for archaeology and the past. At our Bakewell office we maintain a library with over 1000 books, journals etc. and which is free and open to members of the public during working hours.

In January 2016 ARS Ltd. set up the Community Archaeology Radiocarbon Dating Fund (CARD Fund) in partnership with the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC). The scheme offers community archaeology projects the ability to acquire key radiocarbon dates for their projects and is one of the ways in which we try to extend our support to projects which might not otherwise have the ability to acquire radiocarbon dating. By the end of 2019 we will have sponsored over 50 different dates through the scheme.

We will be creating a number of posts and hosting events between now and Christmas to celebrate our achievements. Keep checking back so that you don’t miss out as we share our stories from the last 15 years!

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