Newsletter 281

Anglezarke Trip

Another great tour of the West Pennine Moors led once again by the team from Horwich Heritage Centre (3rd in the series). As in previous years, it was headed by Derek Cartwright with help from Gary Rhodes, Ste Hamer and Phil Luff, former Rivington Ranger. Once again, we met at Jepson's Gate where Derek gave a quick overview of what he was about to show us. These included the renowned Pikestones, Round Loaf and the reputed Black Coppice Chambered Cairn. On the way, there were a number of other interesting site he wanted us to see, including another ancient cairn, an ancient bog tree and evidence of 18th century lead mining. The highlight for me though, was the gritstone quarry, where millstones had been hewn out of the ground in the 19th century. Many large roughouts were still scattered about, amongst which were other tomb-like structures similar to the chambered cairn we'd just visited.

One in particular got us all quite excited (including our guides) as deep inside a wall-like structure could be seen (whether ancient or otherwise is yet to be found out).

You can read all the details of the trip on our website here.

Aspull Ring Ditch Update

Work continues on our Bronze Age site including micro-excavations in situ of cremated bone from our first Urn, as well as the pit under the two large stone slabs. All the bones have now been removed from the latter, which included some of the largest pieces we've seen so far.

The Urn is almost finished and plans for its removal will be drawn up in the coming weeks. We've also started the bone cleaning process at Bolton with two test sessions completed. We have a number of volunteers ready to start processing the rest with Patrick arranging sessions in the coming weeks. The latest discovery is a strange curving feature on the NW side of the site. It is made up of large stones and strange because it's facing away from the central area of the monument. This suggests another focus for burials (which, as is the way, lies under our spoil heap). As always you can find full story on our dig diary here.

Treasure: History Unearthed

This is the title of a new exhibition at the Liverpool Museum, that Vanessa Oakden has been working on in recent months. It opens later this month (13th Sept) and celebrates the work of the Portable Antiquities Scheme, showcasing some lovely objects found from around the Northwest and North Wales. It is a multi-period exhibition and includes some great Bronze Age objects from North Wales and Lancashire. It's on until the end of March next year and cost £5 (kids go free) - more details and tickets are available here. Vanessa also says there is group rate if we want to organise a Society visit, which sounds like a great idea.

Next Meeting

Wednesday 3rd September at the Real Crafty on Upper Dicconson Street starting at 7.30pm as usual. This month we will be having Ian Trumble, who is curator at Bolton Museum. The Museum is famed for its internationally important collection of ancient textiles from around the world. With 6000 pieces from over 50 sites, the collection spans the entire history of Egypt, from its earliest beginnings to beyond the pharaohs, and into the Ottoman period in the mid-1800s. They show life across Egypt throughout its history, from the ordinary people to the greatest rulers. Ian will be telling us all about this in his talk entitled Threads Through Time. Sounds absolutely fascinating - hope you can make it, BA.