Newsletter 69

Lancashire Archaeology Service in Crisis

As you may recall, last year we were given a marvellous talk by John Darlington on the work of the County Archaeology Service. Earlier this year John took up a new position with the National Trust in Cumbria leaving the position of County Archaeologist vacant. We now learn that this post is not to be filled. This is causing great concern to the present staff, who fear that their workload, which is already quite high, will dramatically increase. They also feel that it will lead to important items or areas being dropped and the development of the service being drastically curtailed. I think you will all agree that the work of the Service as described by John and Peter McCrones, who gave us a follow-up talk this year, was very impressive, with a number of significant initiatives being undertaken. These include the nationally recognised Historic Landscape Characterisation project and the North West Regional Research Framework, in which we are currently participating. The County Archaeologist has certainly raised public awareness of the County's considerable historic and archaeological remains and the society would urge the authorities to reconsider their position (a copy of this newsletter is to be sent to the County Council).

Common Nook

I mentioned last month that we have been given access to a greenhouse behind Ince Park where we believe the line of the Roman Road runs. Work has started there now with a small team from the society excavating an open area towards its east end. We are predicting that the ditch feature, found in excavations in the park, will continue through the greenhouse, entering at the southeast corner and progressing at a shallow angle along its length and leaving through the door at the far end. So far, the team have not come across the ditch but it is early days and the excavaters have only gone down about 30cm to 40cm. After removing the thick layer of rich garden soil (which the owner has requested we store separetely for reuse next year) the team came across two thin layers of debris-filled material.

The latest layer is Victorian and contains ash and cinder which seems to have come from an industrial process as it contains little domestic waste. The second layer is a mixture of clay and soil and pottery coming out dates it to the 18th century. Although our predicted ditch has not so far emerged, we have discovered a large pit which is full of the burnt material similar to the material we identified in the first layer. The size of the pit suggests it could even be an unmarked pit shaft so work will proceed here with some caution. The current exposed surface consists of a sandy clay material similar to that found in the excavations in the park and similarly contain no dating material.

Work here will continue through the winter season (but only at weekends). We hope to open up the whole greenhouse floor with sections cut-through where features appear. If you want to get involved in either digging or recording, please contact myself or Mark Heyward on 01942 510479.

SMR to HER

The Sites and Monuments Record (SMR) is changing and expanding and will be called in future the Historic Environment Record (HER). The intention is to include "all aspects of our surroundings that have been built, formed or influenced by human activities". The intention is also to make it more accessible to the general public. Currently SMRs are held and maintained by local authorities and are an essential part of the planning applications procedure. However, they are being used more and more these days and in a much wider context such as in education, social/environmental development and land-use management. It is vital therefore that the information it contains is accurate and up to date. To this end the society over the years has help with the maintenance of the record in our area. The government is now carrying out a consultation exercise to establish the exact form the new record should take and also what are the requirements of potential users. Details of CBA NW's response will be available at the meeting.

Next Meeting

Wednesday 3rd December at the BP Centre (Scout HQ) in Greenough Street, at 7.30 pm as usual. This month's speaker is Dr Steven Snape who will be bringing us up to date with his latest Discoveries on the Egyptian, Libyan Frontier.

Hope to see you there - B.A.