Newsletter 104

Walmesley Park Go-Ahead

Last week Mark Hayward and Brian Parr met with David Owen, the Parks and Gardens manager, to discuss the possibility of carrying out an excavation in the park. The main site in question is the area where we carried out excavations in 2003 as part of Channel 4's Big Dig programme. However, as a contingency, a site on the opposite side of the pond was also discussed. David gave provisional approval in both cases as long as we avoid damaging the oak saplings on the Big Dig site. This is great news and as soon as we can get our resources together we will be able to proceed.

New Economics Survey

We have been asked to participate in an on-line survey about the future for the Grand Arcade development. The organisation (a registered charity Think Tank, The New Economics Foundation) is gathering data related to the 'distinctiveness' of Wigan so that this information can be used to inform the further developments planned. The survey can be found at www.wigansurvey.com. They want as many people as possible to participate but there is also the possibility of funding so Tom will also fill in the survey on behalf of the society as a whole.

Dave's Project

Our Canadian friend, Dave Horrocks has been very busy over the last few months. Not only has he been developing our new website (which will hopefully be published shortly and include a special section for the bathhouse excavations), he has also been studying the Roman landscape in the north Lancashire area. He has been particularly interested in the forts and interconnecting roads north of the River Ribble. During his studies Dave came across this site which he suspects could be a Roman fort.

It lies very close to a road which he also thinks maybe Roman in origin. The rounded corners of the crop mark are very persuasive and overall dimensions of the enclosure fit in well with the size of an auxiliary fort. If, indeed, this does turn out to be Roman, it would be a quite a remarkable find in an area of the North West which is generally regarded not to have been heavily occupied in Roman times. Dave has already contacted Pete Iles of Lancashire Archaeological Services who has suggested that we get involved with a field walk and maybe a resistivity survey. With this in mind we will be arranging a site visit later this month to check out the lie of the land.

Summer Trip

There hasn't been a great response to this summer's trip to York. This maybe due to a combination of the date and the four-hour round trip involved. Therefore, assuming no further response at the meeting, we will look at an alternative. Specifically Tom has spotted a self-guided walk around the Ribblehead Viaduct near Ingleton. This remarkable feat of Victorian engineering is still in perfect working order. The Friends of the Settle-Carlisle Line are now providing an audio download for visitors to listen to as they walk round. (This can be downloaded from www.settle-carlisle.co.uk/walks/ and can be played on an MP3 player or Ipod).

Wyre Archaeology Group

This is a relatively new group who have been active in the field researching the area around the village of Nateby, a few miles east of Garstang, Neil Thompson from the group gave a talk at this year's Spring CBA meeting in Lancaster where he described the discovery of a Roman Road at Nateby. This year the group have been given permission to carry out a limited excavation on the site of a suspected Iron-age hill fort. Neil has asked if we would help with a geophiz survey. In fact the whole area is dotted with ancient sites including a henge monument, a Bronze-age farm and a Romano-British settlement. Neil has kindly offered to take us round them all (which could in fact fit in nicely with the trip to Ingleton). A preview of these sites can be viewed on this website (look for the slide show): http://wyrearchaeology.blogspot.com/2007_05_27_archive.html

Next Meeting

Wednesday 6th June at the District Scout HQ (Baden Powell Centre) in Greenough Street, starting at 7.30 pm as usual. Once again John Johnson will be entertaining us with another of his fascinating lecture on Egypt. This year John has been doing more research on the Tombs of the Nobles. These burials, which lie outside the Valley of the Kings, have provided an enormous amount of information on the everyday life the Egyptians.

Hope to see you there - B.A.