Monday, 16th September Further excavation of subsoil was carried out in Trench J on a lovely sunny morning, revealing a layer of pinkish-grey clay underneath some large cobbles at the SE end of the trench. The ash pit feature at the NW end of the trench was further outlined. Tomorrow this feature will be further
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.
CHIPPING OVER INTO PREHISTORY Our current Prehistoric dig has revealed a surface studded with fragments of abraded and worked chert under 5mm, many under 2mm, suggesting it was where someone sat up to 10.000 years ago making stone tools. If you look at the photo, the material we are interested in is the small black
Pendle’s Hidden Valley Field Walk (14 April 2018) Upper Craggs The Joy Of Flexibility – aka. The Best Laid Plans Of Mice & Men Alex Whitlock The intention had been to look at possible prehistoric features between the Nick Of Pendle and Ogden Clough. And for the first few hundred yards we stuck to
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 –
I’m sure the site’s archaeology is taunting us. Sondage A revealed what looks like the rest of the Doughnut. It’s a feature built of medium sized pebbles and it may well be a pad to go under a wooden post. After a day of finding mostly worked stone, today continued in much the same way
We returned to the past today. In order to make the most of the time we have left we are opening three sondages in the existing trench. A sondage is basically a trench within a trench. We must be getting further back in time as today was aceramic. Our finds trays were all devoid of
Just another Manic Monday. Started off trying to make sure the small finds (individually numbered and measured in because they may be important) & bulk finds (recorded in bulk by context) were bagged and labeled properly and that all the paperwork matched up while the others started attacking context 3 in earnest. Its been an
We were at it again today, delving underground, lifting up rocks to peer into Pendle’s past. It’s getting more complex and older. The largest amount of pottery today was Medieval & there was precious little of that though Gayle did find a beauty. By far the most prolific material found today was stone, and chert
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
Wonderful Wednesday indeed after the deluge of the previous two days. No rain and the stream was running clear. Today we continued lowering context 2 and are playing catch up in the small uphill extension. We are having to go frustratingly carefully at the moment. Usually we would be at least twice as far down
The rain continued over night and into today which had left the nearby stream looking a bit excitable. To accommodate the weather we had a late start and finished off some of the finds work in the morning. After lunch we deturfed an extension to the trench. Gayle spotted the Find Of The Day on
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
First day of our closed dig in hidden fold of the Hidden Valley. Well second day really – yesterday we de-turfed trench one (T1) and it was a case of many hands make light work. Anyway back to today. We spent the whole day removing the top and sub soil – basically this meant the
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
Pendle’s Hidden Valley Project – 21st January 2017 – Fieldwalk to Deerstones Alex Whitlock The first field walk for 2017 took place on a clear crisp day. The sort of day you that can give you a glimpse of one of the transient beauties of the Pennines – an inversion. When these happen the low