His boots deep in winter mud, Greenwich Park community archaeologist Andrew Mayfield runs through the finds from the latest of the park’s volunteer digs. “We’ve found a swallow brooch, loads of clay pipes and coins, the lens of a sextant and, strangely, a Sony mobile that was buried pretty deep,” he says.

Mayfield gestures at the volunteers, who range in age from 20s to 70-something, up to their waists in earthen trenches and armed with trowels and brushes.

“We’re having a final push to uncover Charles II’s steps today,” Mayfield continues. “Steve and Karen over there are brushing up a good-looking vertical [step] for the photos.”

The dig is part of a boom in community archaeology that is seeing everyone from children to retirees joining groups up and down the country excavating Britain’s history.