What a joyous start to the easing of lockdown, gorgeous weather and good company. A group of socially distanced Friends met at the Assheton Arms in Downham. First to the site of the Roman Road (RR). David Taylor described the features of RR’s and their routes around the country, he discussed Margary’s work which still
On one sunny day in Autumn we walked from the A671 down a very straight metalled road to the Standen Hey Farm trying to track the Roman Road (RR), for a good while we must have been walking on top of it. After the farms an almost straight grassy track led past the golf course
Well… Status Quo weren’t exactly on our minds last weekend….. but we did go deeper down. A small group dug near to Calf Hill on the flanks of Pendle Hill, socially distanced of course with gloves and hand sanitiser. After a geo physical survey last year led us to believe that there might be things
It was an overcast and windy day when we met on Coal pit lane, an old packhorse route running from Weets house down to Gisburn. We photographed Bonny Black’s Farm, which was a stopover post on the packhorse route, for Margaret Dickinson who gave us a splendid talk on Packhorse Bridges and routes and the
How refreshing to see and hear Jennifer Read’s presentation which included songs and dialect poetry. Her enthusiasm for this subject is helping to keep alive our oral Lancashire traditions. Jennifer is a Broadsheet Balladress, broadsheet as in the very large sheets of paper A3 size,two sheets on which songs were written. Essentially they were Victorian
Dr David Taylor gave an interesting talk to a good group of members, he started by saying that during the time leading up to WW11 pottery did not play a major part in archaeology nor was it well researched. Over the years this view of the importance of pottery has changed and there has been
We were off to a good start for our first walk of the year. New people were introduced to the Hidden Valley project and the rain held off as the walk leader Alex Whitlock took us to previous excavation sites and on the way we tried to find the Chartist Well, well not entirely successfully.
There was an excellent attendance and much interest in Denise North’s talk on the role of embroidery in recording history. Embroidered pictures told a story that could not be shared before the population became literate. Stitching marks our existence onto fabric and also helps us to identify ourselves and our different cultures. A good example
We spent a very interesting and informative morning listening and looking at artefacts, most of them local, ranging in date from the upper paleolithic era to modern times. Alex Whitlock one of the Finds Liaison Officers for Lancashire and Cumbria revealed his knowledge of various finds that are logged by the Portable Antiquities Scheme or
This was a very pleasant afternoon, the droll and wry humoured script of Alan Bennett’s “A Cream Cracker under the Settee” ably performed by Maureen Roberts was just right for a wet December afternoon. We are indebted to Maureen one of our members, who has much experience as a local actor and director, for
Thanks to John and Anne Dodd we had another successful Quiz night. And the group that won it were…. the LYW’s or last years winners – Graham, Sue, Gillian, Iain and Pat, well there were five of them! We started off with a round Lancashire quiz, we had anagrams of lancashire dishes – which were
Why lines were built and why they were shut have been of great interest to our speaker for much of his life and on Thursday night Alan Young came to talk about his hobby. Being a Geordie he first became interested in railway lines and stations in Heaton near Newcastle, that was in 1972 however
Kevin Cootes proved to us that Cheshire was not ‘a black hole’ in the Iron Age nor is it ‘not well known archaeologically’. After outlining nearby settlements, Chester amphitheatre and Meols for example he expanded on the Poulton site. This in an ideal position on a plateau overlooking a rich agricultural flood plain and near
What a super day that was, a dazzling array of speakers who informed and entertained the audience with a box of delights from around the North West. First from the post was Rick Peterson who outlined developments in the Whitewell area. Fairy Holes cave with its intriguing well developed opening has a long history of
Peter del Strother’s excellent talk to a super audience of the Friends and guests was a fascinating insight into little known facts (to some of us anyway) of Clitheroe. Did you know that? There’s a finial in the rose garden of Clitheroe Castle from the Houses of Parliament that was burnt down in 1834… That
A bright and cool autumn day saw a small but select group on the canal at Finsley Gate in Burnley. We were lucky that Mike Clarke was able to meet up with us and start us off on our walk around Finsley Gate and onto the straight ‘mile’ or Burnley Val. According to Roger Frost,
The first talk of the season was off to a flying start with a super turn out to hear Nick Burton’s talk of Cromwell’s northern journey. Nick took us on a tour of Yorkshire and Lancashire tracing the route followed by Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army, in a difficult to comprehend four days, as his
With the farmer’s permission, we enjoyed a lovely sunny September walk along the Ings Beck valley from Hollins Farm to Ings End. The total distance was under 1 mile, but there was plenty of industrial archaeology, wild flowers and geological specimens to discover. The purpose was to explore the remains of the Skeleron Mines and
With the threat of rain, four intrepid archaeologists made one last visit to the site. The trench was cleaned before photographing. As a result of the previous night’s rain, the differences within the trench were more visible. There is an area of stone and quartz in the trench, which could be interpreted as a collapsed
Day 3 This afternoon on site was windy and cold but sunny. Just the right conditions for lots of enthusiastic trowelling! After removing around half a tonne of soil, the layout of the trench is become clearer. Work will continue tomorrow to try to define the stone feature. We will also explore the south western
Trench 8 Day 1 On a dry and sunny day, with spectacular views of the areas around, Trench 8 (2m x 3m) was opened to continue investigating an anomaly identified on a geophysical survey in 2018. The turf and top soil were removed by heavy trowelling. Few finds came out of this context. This is
A group of “Friends” enjoyed a 2.5 mile walk through Victoria Park to Lomeshaye Village and then up into Nelson Centre, taking in the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. It was led by Andrea Smith and entitled, “ A Weavers Walk. “ We saw the second tallest chimney and second tallest church spire in Lancashire, mills,
As the mist lifted, Calf Hill continued to cling on to its secrets for the last day of the current dig. The dark soil was removed from the south of the trench. It seemed to run underneath Context 2, on top of the cobbled surface.The stone features were cleaned, photographed and lifted. The feature in
Trench 6 extension The second day of the dig took place on a hot summer’s day. Although this resulted in the day being shortened, a lot of work was completed in the southern part of the trench. The decision was made to extend the trench to reveal more of the stone feature. Typically, the spoil
Trench 6 extension On an uncharacteristically fine and sunny day, the group returned to Calf Hill to continue investigating the track/road. Specific questions being asked were ‘How wide is the road’ and ‘What date is the road?’. Trench 6 (see Calf Hill Season 2 Part 1 Day 3 29/5/19) was located and an extension trench
During the summer holidays over 20 children with parents or grandparents spent a morning hunting for clues to the treasure in Barrowford Park. Back at base there was the chance of a lucky dip and all the children received a golden coin and an ice cream in the cafe. Banner Image: Successful Treasure Hunters
The sunshine finally made an appearance on the last day of the current dig. The group worked hard to solve the riddle of the trench. Context 3 consisted of a surface of stones of varying sizes. In the west of the trench the stone seemed more compact. However, on investigation it was found that Context
Mist and drizzle welcomed us to Calf Hill for the second day of digging. Work was continued in Trench 7, working through Context 1 and Context 2. The grass roots were removed from the centre and east of the trench by light mattocking. Following this the trench was trowelled until Context 2 began to be
27th July 2019 Trench 7 Clouds, showers and increasingly heavy rain accompanied the start of our summer dig on Calf Hill. Trench 7 (2m x 6m) was opened to investigate an anomaly identified on a geophysical survey in 2018. Following removal of the turf, the group worked on trowelling Context 1. The trench showed differences
On a hot summer’s day (yes, we do occasionally get those up north), a small group visited the excavation of a series of First World War practice trenches located within Long Wood, an area of ancient semi-natural woodland located in Copley, Calderdale, West Yorkshire. The site was initially recorded during winter 2017 as part of the National