Newsletter 133

Wigan's New Museum Opens

The Museum of Wigan Life is opening on Friday 9th April and we are all invited (11.00am to 2.00pm). Last month Mary, Eric and I had a sneak preview to see how our Society's exhibition was coming along and I must say Lisa Keys and her team have done a marvellous job. We have been allocated seven large panels near the reception area - each panel presenting our work in search of the Roman roads in the area, as well as other projects and activities we have been involved with over the years. We also visited the Museum's archives to pick out some choice Roman finds from the Bathhouse and Wiend excavations. These will be put on display in cabinets with some of our own finds from previous excavations.

If you can't make Friday the Museum will be open most days (except Sundays & Wednesdays). Opening times are 10.00am to 5.00pm (11.00am to 3.00pm on Saturdays and late night on Thursdays - till 8.00pm).

New Pottery Dating

Last month Eric and I attended the latest GM Archaeological Federation meeting in Manchester to learn about a revolutionary new dating technique. It's called Rehydroxilation (or RHX) and uses the rate at which pottery or any fired clay chemically reabsorbs moisture over its lifetime. Tests have shown it to be remarkably accurate over a range of dates. The process was pioneered at Manchester University and presents, for the first time, the prospect of being able to date pottery, brick or tile from any part of the site from any period. It is still early days and the technique is still in the validation stage (one possible problem is in knowing the average temperature of the specimen over its lifetime). However Margaret Carter, who has been involved in the development, is confident this issue can be addressed. She also believes that this relatively inexpensive technique will revolutionise the dating of sites across the world and even play a vital roll in detecting forgeries.

Rectory Update

Our latest discovery at the Rectory site is this strange well-like feature. It has appeared amongst the stone blocks and tree roots at the north end of our trench. It consists of a cast iron container about 40cm diameter and 50cm deep and resembles an upside-down bell with its bottom being either broken or rusted away. The stone blocks which are set around the top of it allow for two pipes to lead in (or out - we're not sure). One is made of standard field-drain sections (which have been broken), the other, a cast iron pipe with a 5cm bore (entering from the right).

There are more stones forming a revetment for the bank on the north side. Our first thought is that it's a drain; however it seems too high to drain the path or dirt track and there does not appear to be an exist beyond the hole in its base. Another possibility is that it is an ornamental water feature (maybe a drinking fountain) with the water being supplied by the cast iron pipe. It's a bit of an enigma at the moment but hopefully further investigations will reveal its purpose.

CBA NW Spring Conference

The meeting is to be held at Stalybridge Civic Hall on Saturday 8th May. This year it is to be hosted by Tameside Arch Society.

As well as the AGM, there will be the usual full programme of speakers, including Mike Nevell and Ron Cowell talking about the work of Tameside group. There will also be a talk on the ongoing excavations at Royton Hall and the latest from Mellor. For more details see me at our next meeting.

Next Meeting

Wednesday 7th April in the lounge of the Upper Morris Street Working Men's Club (off Greenough Street), starting at 7.30 pm as usual. This month's speaker is Andrew Myers who is the Assistant County Archaeologist for Greater Manchester. He will be telling us about two pre-historic sites at Mellor just south of Stockport. The Vicarage Garden and the Shaw Cairn have both been recently excavated revealing some remarkable finds. These include flints and pottery and Andrew will be unravelling the full story of these investigations. Also at the meeting we will be discussing possible locations for our summer trip (one suggestion is a guided tour around the Hungate excavations in York).

Hope to see you there - B.A.