Peter & Barbara Snape FoPH chair, Dawn Beaumont welcomed Peter & Barbara, who opened the afternoon with a rendition of ‘My New Hat’, a song telling the story of a cotton operative’s purchase. Peter explained that, in the mid nineteenth century, Preston was the centre for the printing of ‘broadside ballads’ that reflected the lives
Our chair, Dawn Beaumont reported that our volunteer committee remains at 4, having said farewell to Gill Barton and Brenda Taylor. Behind the scenes there are many volunteers who willingly give their time to helping in so many ways. Without doubt this year’s ‘stars’ have been Archaeology – what a summer of discovery they have had.
For forty years FoPH members have been digging into Pendle’s past. In its 40th year, well 2023 into 2024, we have been hunting for physical evidence of a cattle pool known as Brericar, one of the many Lancashire holdings, many within the Blackburn Hundred, of Queen Isabella (c.1295 to 22 August 1358), wife of King Edward
It’s fair to say that Rawden is a proud Lancastrian and ‘Snuffy Arroder’ – a person born in Great Harwood. As such, he was delighted to be appointed to the post of the Great Harwood Town Crier in 2010. Resplendent in his uniform, Rawden donned his plumed tricorn hat and white gloves before ringing his
Forty years! That’s how long the Archaeology group has been digging into Pendle’s past. Quite an achievement, and there is more to come. The group started out in the Middle Ages investigating the origins of what is now the Pendle Heritage Centre, and it looks like we are back there again with our latest explorations.
Levens Hall: The Park & Gardens Steve Halliwell On arrival, at the Heritage Centre’s amazing Cruck Barn, members and guests received a glass of prosecco and were entertained by The Cliviger Ukulele Band as they took their seats for the illustrated talk. Photo: Pete Booth Our chair, Dawn Beaumont, welcomed everyone and introduced the afternoon’s
There was an atmosphere of anticipation as members gathered to greet Eric Knowles, the boy from Nelson, who found fame as a presenter of The Antiques Road Show, and is a FoPH Patron. Eric had travelled from the south of England especially to unveil a painting featuring Barley and Pendle Hill by Eileen Sorrel, which
Promptly at 2pm our volunteer guide, Linda, greeted 16 members on the drive before the imposing façade of the Hall. Linda explained that Richard Parker probably built the first house at Browsholme, pronounced ‘Brusom’, (the home at the top of the brow, or hill) in the early 15th century. Richard’s grandson, Edmund Parker built the
Alex led a most interesting and informative walk along the side of Pendle Hill above Sabden, on a blustery but sunny day. Several well-hidden earthworks and features were investigated, from the prehistoric period to the early post-medieval era. There were many archaeological features in the area. The walk included a visit to what is probably
After yesterday afternoon’s colossal effort, this morning was sedate. Georgina & I spent the morning cleaning the worst off some of the finds so that they could be stored until it was time for proper cleaning and analysis. We also had a look at the trench & put a few sods back in place. The
Yesterday we finished digging, so today we had a few things to do before we could start throwing all the stuff we had taken out over the last fortnight back in again. Sooooooooooo in the morning we photographed and recorded all the sections (the sides) of the trench. Only then did an elite task force
Last day of digging today. Even hotter than yesterday so regular retreats to the shade with bottles of water were necessary. A bit more Context 3 was peeled back & Features 1 and 2 were recorded and excavated. The trench photo was taken at close of play today. Find Of The Day made up part
We had more fathers than mothers on site today and it was scorchio. Sondage D has been taken down to ‘the natural’, Feature 1 has been cleaned up and recorded, ditto Feature 2, and elsewhere more of Context 3 is being peeled back. Judging from the pottery found in it, Context 3 looks like it
Today I started recording some of the sections and to help me do this I used some high tech – to wit a camera & some cotton buds . Well I do like the sections to be kept nice & clean. We make a record of the sections so that we have some idea of
We have been concentrating on the feature previously known as Idris’s Doughnut and trying to find ‘the natural’. The Doughnut continues to grow and now seems to be a made cobble platform of some sort & probably pre-dating the existing buildings in the area. The surface a short distance below it certainly pre-dates them –
Piddling down today so a few of us mainline archaeo junkies did some finds cleaning and on-the-hop site analysis. The top of context 3 has had a nice wash and cool down ready for a good doing over on Sunday. As is becoming usual with finds’ laundry days, Find Of The Day became obvious only
Yay – it was digging weather again today and we worked our way down to our third context in the main part of the trench and played catch up in the extension. We are getting quite a bit of microlithic (ie tiny) flint mixed up with pottery from about 300 to about 700 years ago.
The rain returned today and it seemed to be enjoying itself. We cleaned about a third of yesterdays finds and theorised about what the artifacts we have found so far may tell us about the site’s history. We also looked at our soggy trench and saw a few things that have been exposed by the
Miserable Monday indeed. Yeh verily it did piddle down all day. But lo, we were not daunted, for we were fortified with hot drinks and comfortable seats. We spent to day cleaning finds to date and starting the assessment of the bulk finds. Find Of The Day goes to something that looked like nothing until
Today we started on our first ‘proper’ context (image below). In other words the first undisturbed archaeological layer. We were still finding Victorian material and prehistoric chert but we have also unearthed some Medieval pottery. The first & best sherd of Medieval pot was found by Steve and is our Find Of The Day. It
Today’s field walk explored the valley that connects Barley and the Ogden Valley with Thorney Holme, Roughlee, and the main Hidden Valley. Starting at Barley we walked up Hay’s Lane and followed that to Thorney Holme. Running down the south side of the valley, this rather rough public highway affords famous views of Pendle (above)
Pendle’s Hidden Valley Project – 18th February 2017 – Portfield Alex Whitlock This month’s fieldwalk was centred on the key feature of the western end of the Sabden Valley – Portfield. The site is private property and not open to the public so we are most thankful to the owners for their kind permission to visit. Portfield
The expression ‘give the man a medal’ has never seemed more apt. The audience at the talk on Friday evening benefitted from the vast store of knowledge and experience that Mike has garnered and developed by ‘messing about ‘ in boats and navigation canals for over 50 years. By doing so he has been heavily