William Cunnington

William Cunnington FSA (1754 – 31 December 1810) was an English antiquarian and archaeologist.

Archaeological investigations Cunnington was a self-educated merchant, who developed an interest in the rich archaeological landscape around the Wiltshire village of Heytesbury where he lived and worked. In contrast to the vast majority of antiquarians of the time, Cunnington realised that to fully understand the barrows which fascinated him, they should be excavated and recorded carefully and methodically. Beginning his work around 1798, the initial investigations were self-funded, but increasingly they attracted the interest of a succession of wealthy patrons including H.P. Wyndham MP (whose sister Laetitia lived at Heytesbury House) and culminating in Sir Richard Colt Hoare (1758–1838) of Stourhead. and were held in some esteem as reliable, careful and experienced excavators. John Parker is more frequently discussed in correspondence between Cunnington and Hoare and it is clear that he was often despatched on travels across the Wiltshire Downs in search of new sites. John, born in 1780, is portrayed with some warmth by Cunnington and he comes across as hard-working and enthusiastic, being deeply disappointed by the failure of excavations to produce interesting material. 2009 research by Paul Everill has revealed the first reference to the use of a trowel on an archaeological site in a letter from Cunnington to Hoare in 1808, which describes John Parker using one in the excavation of Bush Barrow.

Personal life Cunnington was born at Grafton, Northamptonshire, in 1754, and by about 1775 he had settled as a tradesman at Heytesbury, Wiltshire.

He married Mary, daughter of Robert Meares, in 1787, and they had three daughters.

Legacy Along with Richard Colt Hoare, Cunnington was the subject of an exhibition at the Wiltshire Museum in 2003. The museum holds the archives made by Cunnington, along with watercolour drawings made by Philip Crocker and the objects that he excavated.