HIgher White Lee ‘Dig’ 15th – 22nd September 2024

Monday, 16th September Further excavation of subsoil was carried out in Trench J on a lovely sunny morning, revealing a layer of pinkish-grey clay underneath some large cobbles at the SE end of the trench. The ash pit feature at the NW end of the trench was further outlined. Tomorrow this feature will be further

Archaeology Group 2024 and forward – Alex Whitlock

Forty years! That’s how long the Archaeology group has been digging into Pendle’s past. Quite an achievement, and there is more to come. The group started out in the Middle Ages investigating the origins of what is now the Pendle Heritage Centre, and it looks like we are back there again with our latest explorations.

The Joy Of Flexibility – aka. The Best Laid Plans Of Mice & Men

Pendle’s Hidden Valley Field Walk (14 April 2018) Upper Craggs The Joy Of Flexibility – aka. The Best Laid Plans Of Mice & Men Alex Whitlock   The intention had been to look at possible prehistoric features between the Nick Of Pendle and Ogden Clough. And for the first few hundred yards we stuck to

PENDLE’S HIDDEN VALLEY DIG – DAY 18 – WINDING UP WEDNESDAY

After yesterday afternoon’s colossal effort, this morning was sedate. Georgina & I spent the morning cleaning the worst off some of the finds so that they could be stored until it was time for proper cleaning and analysis. We also had a look at the trench & put a few sods back in place. The

PENDLE’S HIDDEN VALLEY DIG – DAY 17 – TIDY UP TUESDAY

Yesterday we finished digging, so today we had a few things to do before we could start throwing all the stuff we had taken out over the last fortnight back in again. Sooooooooooo in the morning we photographed and recorded all the sections (the sides) of the trench. Only then did an elite task force

PENDLE’S HIDDEN VALLEY DIG – DAY 16 – MARVELLOUS MONDAY

Last day of digging today. Even hotter than yesterday so regular retreats to the shade with bottles of water were necessary. A bit more Context 3 was peeled back & Features 1 and 2 were recorded and excavated. The trench photo was taken at close of play today. Find Of The Day made up part

PENDLE’S HIDDEN VALLEY DIG – DAY 15 – SUNNY DAY SUNDAY

We had more fathers than mothers on site today and it was scorchio. Sondage D has been taken down to ‘the natural’, Feature 1 has been cleaned up and recorded, ditto Feature 2, and elsewhere more of Context 3 is being peeled back. Judging from the pottery found in it, Context 3 looks like it

PENDLE’S HIDDEN VALLEY DIG – DAY 13 – FEATURE FRIDAY

We have been concentrating on the feature previously known as Idris’s Doughnut and trying to find ‘the natural’. The Doughnut continues to grow and now seems to be a made cobble platform of some sort & probably pre-dating the existing buildings in the area. The surface a short distance below it certainly pre-dates them –

PENDLE’S HIDDEN VALLEY DIG – DAY 12 – TAUNTING THURSDAY

I’m sure the site’s archaeology is taunting us. Sondage A revealed what looks like the rest of the Doughnut. It’s a feature built of medium sized pebbles and it may well be a pad to go under a wooden post. After a day of finding mostly worked stone, today continued in much the same way

PENDLE’S HIDDEN VALLEY DIG – DAY 11 – WORKED CHERT WEDNESDAY

We returned to the past today. In order to make the most of the time we have left we are opening three sondages in the existing trench. A sondage is basically a trench within a trench. We must be getting further back in time as today was aceramic. Our finds trays were all devoid of

PENDLE’S HIDDEN VALLEY DIG – DAY 10 – MANIC MONDAY

Just another Manic Monday. Started off trying to make sure the small finds (individually numbered and measured in because they may be important) & bulk finds (recorded in bulk by context) were bagged and labeled properly and that all the paperwork matched up while the others started attacking context 3 in earnest. Its been an

PENDLE’S HIDDEN VALLEY DIG – DAY 9 – STONED SUNDAY

We were at it again today, delving underground, lifting up rocks to peer into Pendle’s past. It’s getting more complex and older. The largest amount of pottery today was Medieval & there was precious little of that though Gayle did find a beauty. By far the most prolific material found today was stone, and chert

PENDLE’S HIDDEN VALLEY DIG – DAY 7 – FLINTY FRIDAY

Yay – it was digging weather again today and we worked our way down to our third context in the main part of the trench and played catch up in the extension. We are getting quite a bit of microlithic (ie tiny) flint mixed up with pottery from about 300 to about 700 years ago.

PENDLE’S HIDDEN VALLEY DIG – DAY 6 – THEORY THURSDAY

The rain returned today and it seemed to be enjoying itself. We cleaned about a third of yesterdays finds and theorised about what the artifacts we have found so far may tell us about the site’s history. We also looked at our soggy trench and saw a few things that have been exposed by the

PENDLE’S HIDDEN VALLEY DIG – DAY 5 – WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY

Wonderful Wednesday indeed after the deluge of the previous two days. No rain and the stream was running clear. Today we continued lowering context 2 and are playing catch up in the small uphill extension. We are having to go frustratingly carefully at the moment. Usually we would be at least twice as far down

PENDLE’S HIDDEN VALLEY DIG – DAY 2 – CERAMIC SUNDAY

Today we started on our first ‘proper’ context (image below). In other words the first undisturbed archaeological layer. We were still finding Victorian material and prehistoric chert but we have also unearthed some Medieval pottery. The first & best sherd of Medieval pot was found by Steve and is our Find Of The Day. It