Newsletter 215

Resistivity Month

It all started when we had the first downpour after our long hot dry summer. It seemed like a good opportunity to dust off our equipment (not used since 2014) and check out the rising ground to the east of the Roman road at Brimelow Farm. There seemed to be a general consensus that there was something in that area, where the lush grass contrasts with the rest of the field. This would suggest ditches able to retain the moisture. Our results however proved otherwise as our survey, which spanned across both lush and parched sections, showed that the greener the grass, the dryer the reading with little or no evidence of anything manmade (ah well, it was worth a try).

Fort in the Wood

The name Burscough combines the Anglo-Saxon (burgh meaning fort) with the Viking (scough meaning wood). Last month Steve Baldwin, from Bluestone Archaeology, invited our Society to join him in investigating a site in the area which he has been working on for many years. It's a fascinating site with finds showing multiple periods including a strong Roman presence and much post-Roman activity. He arranged some dig days for our members, who were shown the intricacies of excavation by members of the Bluestone team. Professional archaeologist George Luke explained that the excavations are still in the evaluation stage, but already structural platforms have been identified, overlying cobbled surfaces. Our Society also carried out its biggest resistivity survey yet, spanning a large portion of the site.

Never confident with resistivity (it seems to be hit and miss and very dependant on the underlying ground conditions) the results, however, were outstanding. The detail showed just how big the site is and has revealed some very interesting phases of occupation. Steve is hoping, perhaps with our help, to get a grant so that he can carry out a community dig next year for people wanting to learn archaeology. He will also be on hand at our next meeting to discuss his plans for the future of this exciting site.

Bilsborrow

Last month we also paid another visit to our friends across the Ribble, the Wyre Archaeology Group. They are continuing to investigate the line of the Roman road from Preston to Lancaster (in 2016 we helped them detect the possible line of the road at Bowgreave just south of Garstang - see Newsletter 195 & Newsletter 197). This time they had permission to survey the playing field of John Cross Primary School at Bilsborrow on the A6 north of Preston. David Ratledge's Lidar images had suggested that the road may have cross the field in the south west corner. Dave Hampson from the Wyre Group had also detected a raised profile in the hedgerow of the southern field boundary (ideally Dave would have investigated the field beyond the fence but had no luck in gaining permission). Anyway the results of our survey, which covered an area 50m x 25m, did show high resistance in the bottom SW corner. This is slightly off the predicted line to the west. However looking at the field, it is obvious that a certain amount of landscaping has been carried out to create a flat playing field, which may have caused the road to be truncated. Dave is exploring the possibility of carrying out an excavation involving the children from the school which I'm sure would they would love to do.

Vindolanda Trip

Despite the small turnout the trip was very enjoyable and we got to see quite a lot. We've been to Vindolanda before but I hadn't appreciated the number of forts (5 in all) built on the site (all on different alignments). Many features are still not fully understood but excavations continue on the site and the latest work on the north side is revealing the previous stone fort lying a good few metres down. Since our last visit, the museum has been refurbished with the latest material on display, but it's the writing tablets that always provide the greatest fascination.

After a long day, including lunch in the museum's excellent cafe, we retired to our B&B in Haydon Bridge. Next day after breakfast we set off early for Chesters Roman fort on Hadrian's Wall. As it happens the Roman army were in town demonstrating their prowess with weaponry skills and performing gladiatorial combat.

After a tea break in the onsite cafe, we made our way home, via the Dere Street Roman road, taking the opportunity to visit Binchester on our way. Here are two bathhouses we needed to see. The first one professes to be the best preserved in the country and the other, lying in the vicus area, has only recently been excavated. You can see more details of our trip here.

Next Meeting

Wednesday 5th September. - in the Standish Suite at the Brocket Arms (7.30pm as usual). This month we have Norman Redhead telling us about the Castleshaw Hinterland Project. Norman with Friends of Castleshaw, have been investigating this site for many years and we visited the excavations in 2014 (Newsletter 176). He will be updating us on all the work that has been carried out there since then.

Hope to see you there - B.A.