Fremantle council is taking the opportunity to dig up some of its past before construction begins on the multi-million-dollar redevelopment of the town centre.

The Kings Square project will see the 1960s council library administration block torn down and replaced.

But before the wrecking balls move in, the council has commissioned archaeologists to investigate three sites around Kings Square for evidence of the town's early history.

At what was the entrance to the library, a large pit has been excavated and the team is carefully uncovering the layers.

Fiona Hook has been getting down and dirty as part of the dig. ( ABC Radio Perth: Emma Wynne )

"It's a systematic process," archaeologist Fiona Hook explained.

"We have used a mechanical excavator to take off all the yellow sand with the blue metal at the top, that is modern fill.

"When we come down to what we consider an archaeological deposit with artefacts in it, this black layer, we then get out the shovels and trowels and buckets.

"When we find features, we clean them up and try and understand what it is. Then we keep going down."

Uncovering the physical evidence

The archaeologists already know what used to be on the site from written records — and now they are finding the physical evidence.

Archaeologists are uncovering layers of past buildings. ( ABC Radio Perth: Emma Wynne )

"We know that on this corner in the 1850s there was a house and a shop and yard," Ms Hook said.

"In the late 1800s there was a blacksmith farrier operating here.

"In 1929 the house was demolished and the centennial hall was built ... that was demolished in the 1950s.

"Immediately out the front of the town forecourt everyone has been walking over the remains of the blacksmith farrier shop.

"You can see the black material with brick inclusions. This material is iron and copper and we have about 50 horse shoes coming out."

Dig goes beyond the history books

Digging up the site also offers a chance to discover some of the detailed history of the town that official accounts do not cover.

"Often the written history deals with famous people and big buildings, it doesn't necessarily deal with everyday life and that is where archaeology comes into its own," Ms Hook said.

The blacksmith and farriers were "the workshops of their age, they made sure that everything was being transported quickly and easily through the City of Fremantle and so this was a main hub", although little is known about them, Ms Hook added.

"Through the material we are pulling out we can get an understanding of what they were doing here and also the extent of their operations."

The team hopes to uncover the old footings of the first St John's Church in Kings Square. ( ABC Radio Perth: Emma Wynne )

Old church to be uncovered

Around the corner, four squares of the mall that run between St John's Anglican Church and the Town Hall have been fenced off also.

It is hoped that when they dig down they will find the old footings of the first St John's Church.

The first church was built in 1840 and demolished 40 years later.

The first St John's Church in Fremantle opened in 1843. ( Supplied: City of Fremantle )

Most of the stone was reused in the construction of the new St John's, which opened in 1882 and was built just metres away from the former building; High Street was built over the footings of the old church.

The city knows the foundations are there, somewhere.

"The city wants to have accurate plans so they know where they are so they are not going to be impacted by the new building," Ms Hook explained.

"Then they are planning, with the refurbishment of the mall, to display the archaeology under glass; the foundations will be excavated and displayed with lights."

Russell Kingdom is the director of Kings Square project, which will see a $270 million redevelopment, including new council buildings, a library, a new mall and city square.

He said the council insisted that developers building on historic sites conduct archaeological investigations before they commence work — so it was important that council did the same to set an example.

"We are going above and beyond what we need to do, partly because we are curious to see what we can reveal," Mr Kingdom said.

"But it's also an opportunity to perhaps display some of the artefacts that we might uncover in the new building."