Newsletter 89

Thornborough - Decision Delay

In September this year North Yorkshire County Council were to have voted on plans, which would have determined the future of quarrying around Thornborough Henge complex. As I reported in June last year (Newsletter 74) Tarmac has been attempting to obtain permission to extend their operations which, campaigners have argued, could eventually see gravel extraction right up to the edge of the complex. A pressure group, called TimeWatch, has been formed to fight the proposals and has obtained a 10,000 signature petition as well as support from David Miles, chief archaeologist with English Heritage.

n response, Tarmac has accused protestors of misleading the public and has pointed out that gravel from the existing operations has been used to build hospitals. They also say that far from destroying archaeology, Tarmac had been responsible for discovering, recording and preserving it. The company points out that it has spent over £400,000 on archaeological work, covering more than 100 acres at the proposed site. They insist that their plans to extract 2.2 million tons of sand and gravel would pose no threat to the henges in any way (?).

Despite this, at the meeting in September, the councillors were set to reject their application. Tarmac, at the last-minute however, made a request for a deferral of the planning application until even further investigation could be carried out. This was initially welcomed by campaigners such as Mike Hayworth from the CBA who said at least it would deal with the major objections that the site is of national importance.

However, worries are now growing that the quarry firm is rushing the archaeological survey. George Chaplin, chairman of TimeWatch, claims they are working in bad weather, using heavy equipment and without adequate supervision from independent archaeologists. He is also concerned that the researches are too focussed on the Neolithic and likely to miss other important archaeology. The leader of the survey team, Steve Timms, has countered this by saying he is confident in the survey plan, because English Heritage have been involved in all stages, both in its design and day to day monitoring. The survey team are due to report in January next year.

This has been an acrimonious dispute, lasting many years and has highlighted the age-old problems between developer and conservationist (something we in Wigan have experienced first hand with this summer's town centre development). We can only hope that the right decision will be made based on well-informed argument. If you want to learn more about the dispute here are some websites to visit.

Nosterfield project
Friends of Thornborough
TimeWatch

Wilderspool

Dave Thomas dropped a book off the other day, which he'd picked up from a second-hand book fair, entitled 'Roman Cheshire'. It is the second volume of 'A History of Cheshire' written by F.H Thompson and I'm finding it very interesting. It was first published in 1965, and although over 40 years old, it is absolutely full of information about the archaeology of the region. Sites include Holt, Heronbridge, Northwich, Middlewich and Chester itself. Most intriguing of all, for me however, is the section on the site at Wilderspool near Warrington, which gives an account of the work carried out there up to that time. Wilderspool was a large Roman settlement on the south bank of the River Mersey dating to around the late 1st early 2nd centuries AD and was extensively excavated by Thomas May between 1895 and 1905. The result from this work shows extensive industrial activity including iron working, tile making and even glass products. Excavations also showed evidence of a small fort on the banks of the River Mersey, at the point where the road to Wigan crossed it (although strangely, the road seemed to lie on top of the fort rampart). The iron working included both smelting and smithing and intriguingly some cast iron was found, which May speculates could be the result of experimentation with coal as a smelting fuel. He also says that this may have come from the coal-rich areas around Wigan. The pottery from Wilderspool is well known and we even know the names of the potters who apparently moved to Carlisle later in the 2nd century.

Many other excavations have been carried out on the Wilderspool site since May's time, including a large one in 1966 just a year after the book was published, but I suspect May's has probably been the most revealing.

Next Meeting

Wednesday 7tth December at the Baden Powell Centre (Scout HQ) in Greenough Street, starting at 7.30 pm as usual. Ian Miller from Oxford Archaeology North will be here to bring us put to date on the finding from the town centre excavations. In last month's newsletter, I reviewed the details as far as we knew them, but more and more information is coming to light all the time, as post-excavation work continues. As it's the Christmas meeting, the usual refreshments will be available (Tom says the Beaujolais this year is great).

Hope to see you there. If not, have a good Christmas and hope to see you in the New Year. B.A.