ACID
ISSUE 19 JANUARY 2022
Archaeology and Conservation in Derbyshire and the Peak District
Scout’s honour New archaeology badge
Inside:
The aerial archaeologist Learning to live with Covid Celebrating the National Park’s 70th anniversary
Our year in numbers and pictures
Foreword:
ACID Archaeology and Conservation in Derbyshire and the Peak District Editor: Roly Smith, 33 Park Road, Bakewell, Derbyshire DE45 1AX Tel: 01629 812034; email: roly.smith@btconnect.com For further information (or more copies) please email Del Pickup at: del.pickup@peakdistrict.gov.uk Designed by: Phil Cunningham www.creative-magazine-designer.co.uk Printed by: Buxton Press www.buxtonpress.com The Committee wishes to thank our sponsors, Derbyshire County Council and the Peak District National Park Authority, who enable this publication to be made freely available.
ACID
Derbyshire Archaeology Advisory Committee Buxton Museum and Art Gallery Creswell Crags Heritage Trust Derbyshire Archaeological Society Derbyshire County Council Derby Museums Trust Historic England (East Midlands) Hunter Archaeological Society University of Manchester Archaeology Department University of Nottingham Peak District Mines Historical Society Peak District National Park Authority Portable Antiquities Scheme Museums Sheffield University of Sheffield, Department of Archaeology South Derbyshire District Council
ISSUE 19 JANUARY 2022
Archaeology and Conservation in Derbyshire and the Peak District
Scout’s honour New archaeology badge
Inside:
The aerial archaeologist Learning to live with Covid Celebrating the National Park’s 70th anniversary
Finding new ways of working together
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eviewing this edition of ACID magazine, I am struck by the enormous energy and commitment shown by those who care about our heritage, despite the Covid pandemic. We have all been busier than ever and have found new ways to work and share information. We learn how community groups and heritage sector organisations have overcome Covid restrictions, often gaining new technological skills in the process.
Creative and artistic approaches to engaging people in landscape are showcased by two art projects: GUIDEline and Vestiges. Some beautiful artwork, poetry and digital resources have been produced in celebration of the National Park’s 70th birthday and the 200th birthday of Victorian antiquarian Thomas Bateman. High quality research, survey, excavation and analysis by local archaeological contractors continues to shed new light on how people lived and what they ate, from the Iron Age period onwards (anyone for stickleback soup?). Surely we can take valuable lessons from evidence of medieval management of the River Dove into our future approaches to river catchment management and climate change responses? And managing landscape change will certainly be informed by a better understanding of landscape character, as is explained by Sarah Whiteley. TV’s “Aerial Archaeologist” Ben Robinson reveals the interesting journey through his heritage career, how he has managed to combine this with his love of flying and the huge feeling of satisfaction he gains from seeing investment bring sustainable transformation to our historic built environment. Derbyshire Museums Manager Ros Westwood reminds us of the importance of museum collections. Museums have worked tirelessly through the pandemic to keep their collections accessible, and their audiences engaged, and the creation of new archives of material available for future research is an absolutely integral part of any archaeological investigation. Meghan King showcases her golden ‘Find of the Year’ from the fantastic Portal Antiquities Scheme. The strongest theme emerging from this issue is the value of partnerships and education. Helen Carrington explains how learning something new about a historic building is one of the most rewarding aspects of her role as Conservation Officer. University of Sheffield students have conducted several important surveys, shedding new light on the deserted medieval village at Haddon, the hillfort at Mam Tor and industrial remains at Cracken Edge. Helen Malbon describes how her PhD research could provide useful data for monitoring erosion at historic monuments. Our universities play such a critical role in driving forward research and developing the heritage sector into the next generation and we value these partnerships more than ever.
Our year in numbers and pictures
Morgause Lomas with the new archaeology badge for Derbyshire Scouts at Peveril Castle (see page12)
The views expressed in the pages of this magazine do not necessarily reflect those of the editor or publishers. No responsibility will be accepted for any comments made by contributors or interviewees. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without the written permission of the publishers. Archaeology and Conservation in Derbyshire and the Peak District is supported by Derbyshire County Council and the Peak District National Park Authority
I am also thrilled to see contributions from our next generation of heritage professionals and enthusiasts. Kit Bailey inspires us all with his hands-on approach to learning. He turned his own back garden and neighbourhood into a laboratory of research, experiment and enquiry – he is unstoppable! And in our cover story we learn how Morgause Lomas has been motivated to pass her archaeological learning on to others by developing a brand new Archaeology Badge for the Derbyshire Scouts. My sincere thanks to our contributors and all the unsung heroes who have continued to work in support of heritage over the last year – your hard work inspires us all.
Anna Badcock
Treasurer of the Derbyshire Archaeological Advisory Committee
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Contents
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2 Foreword
15 Mam Tor magnified
25 Curating our cultural heritage
Anna Badcock, Treasurer of the Derbyshire Archaeological Advisory Committee
Colin Merrony of the University of Sheffield describes how a new survey of the Mam Tor has shed a startling new light on the hillfort
South West Peak Cultural Heritage Officer Catherine Parker Heath looks back on four years of achievement
16 The aerial archaeologist
News from around the county
4 Learning to live with lockdown Natalie Ward reflects on a difficult period for those working in the heritage sector 6 Celebrating the first 70 years The Peak District National Park marked its 70th birthday last year. Anna Badcock describes some of the ways in which it was celebrated 8 Identifying Derbyshire’s special landscapes Sarah Whiteley reports on a new holistic approach to recording historic landscape character in Derbyshire 10 New light on Iron Age Derbyshire Steve Malone and Kris Poole discover new evidence of the Iron Age in eastern Derbyshire 12 Scout’s honour (cover story) Morgause Lomas describes how she came up with a new archaeology badge for Derbyshire Scouts 13 What they ate in medieval Derby Richard Gregory on a long-awaited report which reveals some fascinating details about the diet of medieval Derbeians 14 Haddon’s lost village Surveys by University of Sheffield students have provided new insights into the deserted medieval village of Nether Haddon. Report by Colin Merrony and Tom Millington
Ben Robinson, TV’s archaeologist in the sky, tells editor Roly Smith how it all began 18 Monitoring heritage sites from the air Helen Malbon describes how aerial technology is revealing new aspects of sensitive archaeological sites 20 A Day in the Life of… a building conservation officer
26 News 28 Laying siege to the vegetable patch Kit Bailey of the Peak District Young Archaeologists’ Club did not let the lockdown dampen his enthusiasm 29 Navio and life at the edge of Rome Following the recent excavations at Navio, Ros Westwood of Buxton Museum looks back at Roman Derbyshire 30 Zooming in on history
Helen Carrington describes her work with the Peak District National Park, from rope-access cradle to graves
The lockdown didn’t stop the Derbyshire Archaeological Society’s lectures, as Ian Michell reveals
21 Find of the Year: The face of the rebel ‘Emperor of the North’
31 The search for Sir John’s “mighty howse”
Meghan King nominates her ‘Find of the Year’
Maxwell Skipp describes the search for a medieval knight’s home
22 New light on Roman and Medieval Bolsover
32 A century of fieldwork Looking back on the work of the Hunter Archaeological Society
Gavin Kinsley reports on his new investigation of a multi-age site in Bolsover
33 Bookshelf
23 Life on the Edge
Roly Smith reviews the latest books on the county
Elin Price delves into the life and work of the Cracken Edge Quarry
34 Our year in numbers
24 Managing the Dove in the Middle Ages
35 Our year in pictures
Kristina Krawiec describes how a diversion of the Dove uncovered fascinating clues about medieval river management
Planning and heritage statistics A pictorial selection of some of the things we’ve been up to 36 Picturing the Past: Pilsbury Castle Hills 2022 | ACID
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Learning to live with lockdown A deserted Monsal Trail (Emily Bowyer-Kazadi)
NATALIE WARD, Senior Conservation Archaeologist at the Peak District National Park, reflects on a difficult period for those working in the heritage sector
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Parwich History Society on a survey
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he past couple of years were challenging for our region’s heritage and all those involved in the voluntary and professional spheres. From cancelled events to closed sites and museums; a wholesale shift to home working to introducing Covidsafe site working procedures; cancelling site visits and fieldwork projects, to finding new ways to engage with our audiences, the challenges of 2020 and 2021 have meant we have had to find new ways of working and embracing the new opportunities these present. In fact, the Derbyshire County Council and Peak District National Park heritage teams felt busier than ever. Having quickly adapted to home working, we found ourselves facing a greatly increased workload of planning applications and having to deal with the effects of higher visitor numbers on some of our more popular heritage sites. In this feature, people working in and involved in
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heritage across Derbyshire and Peak District reflect on their experiences of lockdown and the Covid restrictions, and what they have meant for them, their organisation, their work and their projects. Sarah Chubb, Archives and Local Studies Manager at the Derbyshire Record Office Although Derbyshire Record Office had to close to the public for long periods over 2020-2021, we resumed our copying and research service after the first lockdown ended, so customers didn’t lose out altogether. We have now reopened although with limited numbers and booking in advance. It’s been interesting having to rethink how we offer our public service – but it’s given us the opportunity to try out new ways of doing things which we think will make things run a little smoother in the future. Even though staff had to work from home during lockdown, we had plenty to keep us busy including adding 3,300 local studies and 13,800 archive records to our online catalogue. We also had a bumper year for online usage with 8.8 million page views and over 233,000 users. We have now introduced online events and are planning more digital work in the future, including more exhibitions on Google Arts and Culture. Follow our blog (recordoffice.wordpress.com) or Twitter (@FranklinArchive) for the latest information about what’s happening at the Record Office. Fiona Hadfield, Parwich History Society Lockdown hit Parwich just as the history society was contemplating progress on a project to explore the origins of the village. We were keen to find out whether there was any possibility that the lower part of the village was established on an Anglo-Saxon platform. This theory had been mooted by some members of the society over the years, and a small amount of geophysical exploration which had been carried out the previous summer as part of a village Archaeology Day led us to believe further work was justified. Lockdown however meant that we were restricted in
moving forward. We were unable to meet and apathy was taking over. At the Archaeology Day we had started excavating an area at Nethergeen Farm which appeared to consist of an underground chamber. We decided that as soon as we could meet in a group of six outside, we would continue excavating the site. We spent several Sunday afternoons last spring making a start. We speculated about the purpose of these chambers and how far we should go in our excavations. Was this a feature of archaeological interest or not? Natalie Ward, Senior Conservation Archaeologist at the Peak District National Park, thought it worth exploring further and suggested that we looked at the skill level of the group. We found that although we had some skill sets between us, we really needed to learn how to work a trench and record our findings in the correct manner in order for it to be meaningful. Using digital meetings we decided to buy some basic equipment and make or borrow other items. We now have the equipment and are ready in theory to curb our enthusiasm and do the job properly. We plan to use the chamber excavation as our ‘nursery slope’ before embarking upon the exciting task of opening a trench across the possible AngloSaxon platform. We hope to be able eventually pass our newly honed skills to others in the village so that we can explore the origins of the village as a community project. Emily Bowyer-Kazadi, PhD Candidate in Archaeology, University of Liverpool The research for my PhD in archaeology focuses on how people engage with archaeological landscapes within the context of British National Parks. It aims to investigate narratives, perceptions, and experiences of different groups within the Parks. It is, of course, important to denote which groups will be studied, and initial investigations have identified locals, visitors, local, regional, and national governments, Park authorities, farmers and businesses, among others. One of the main focuses of my research on how archaeology is linked to our wellbeing and how it can help in creating a sense of identity (individual, communal and national). This will include investigating different concepts of landscape as well as looking at identity, diversity, access, and inclusion within British National Parks. Covid-19 has had many impacts on my research including on its focus and on the data collection, which will be largely qualitative in nature. This will create many challenges with adhering to Covid-19 safety regulations and ensuring that I can get enough data. However, the pandemic has also presented an interesting opportunity to investigate how a crisis such as this can affect our relationship between our wellbeing and our heritage. Please feel free to contact me for further questions at: emily.bowyer-kazadi@liverpool.ac.uk More information can be found at: https://www.liverpool. ac.uk/archaeology-classics-and-egyptology/research/ phd-research/ Castleton Historical Society 2020 began with our January AGM, followed by our first talk in February, which in hindsight we felt lucky
Items from the
to have squeezed in. Happily many of our speakers Derbyshire agreed to transfer to 2021 and were prepared to make Record Office collections, on presentations on Zoom. As we collaborated with Hope Google Arts and Historical Society to share remote meetings, we’ve Culture enjoyed the bonus of many more talks than usual. Furthermore, we’ve realised that via Zoom we can invite speakers who live virtually anywhere, so we are now considering a mix of virtual and face-to-face talks at least for 2022. A big blow was the lockdown closure of Castleton Visitor Centre within which are our museum and archives and at the time of writing (July 2021), we are poised to go in and do some housekeeping, prior to hopefully a relaxation of rules so that the public can enjoy our displays once more. We weren’t entirely idle during lockdown as our website was always up and running and we received quite a few enquiries from authors preparing Peak District fiction and non-fiction, and family historians. A number of donations to the museum collection included a shawl worn by Tommy Liversage, the (then) male consort in the Castleton Garland ceremony during the 1950s. and some good photos. Sadly, there was no Garland in either 2020 or 2021 – the first cancellations since the First World War. Tommy Liversage Finally, community archaeology was on hold last year (mounted) as the Consort at but the hiatus did give a little more breathing space the Castleton for documentary research. Together with the team Garland, with from the University of Sheffield’s terrific Department of Charlie Eyre and Archaeology, we hope to soon return to the New Hall Sally Waining (Picture curtesy site on Buxton Road to continue the search for the of Jayne Webster earliest remains of the building. and family)
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Celebrating the first 70 years
GUIDEline boundary word image by Malcolm Pointon (aged 11)
The Peak District National Park marked its 70th birthday in April last year. Cultural Heritage Manager ANNA BADCOCK describes some of the ways in which it was celebrated
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e celebrated our momentous anniversary as the first UK National Park with numerous events and activities. Our ‘70 people 70 Years’ programme has featured a range of people who have been involved with the National Park since its conception – from wardens to fell runners, commissioners to campaigners – including our very own ACID editor Roly Smith. Mark Gwynne Jones’ ‘Voices from the Peak’ project has created a series of audio journeys through the wonderful landscapes of the area – take a listen and lose yourself in these atmospheric soundscapes. Two 70th anniversary projects with a particular heritage focus were the GUIDEline boundary arts project and
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Vestiges, a celebration of life and discoveries of the antiquarian Thomas Bateman (last year was also the bicentenary of Bateman’s birth, see ACID 2021). The GUIDEline project is being delivered by artists from the Buxton-based Glassball Studio. GUIDEline is exploring the nature of the National Park’s boundary, creating a greater understanding of the how the boundary was created and, through a series of collaborative public artworks, responding to the complexities of what a boundary is. The project is providing innovative creative engagement opportunities for residents and visitors alike to discover and share personal responses to an emerging story at a seminal point in the Park’s history. Did you know that the legal definition of the National Park boundary is not just a map but the written description of its route? Words taken from the description were 3D-printed, and laser-cut from plywood, and sent out to schools as part of the ‘Boundary Words’ activity. Families were encouraged to explore their local area and use the words to interact with the boundary. In collaboration with artist
Allison Lloyd a series of ‘Contouring the Boundary’ walks offered participants to opportunity to experiment with photography and to look at landscape through new eyes. The GUIDEline project will continue throughout this year, and more information on activities and how to take part can be found at: https://guideline.org.uk/ The Vestiges project – funded by a University of Manchester Cultural Engagement grant and the donation of staff time from the Universities of Manchester, Sheffield and Bradford – brought creative writers and artists into collaboration with the National Park Cultural Heritage team, archaeologists from the contributing universities, and Sheffield’s Weston Park Museum.
Poems, artworks and a digital StoryMap explore the life, work and character of Thomas Bateman and his prolific excavation of Peak District prehistoric barrows. At the time of writing a pamphlet is being produced to showcase some of this work, and the project links to the forthcoming Bateman exhibition at Weston Park Museum to be held this year. Last year’s Derbyshire Archaeology Day was held for the first time on a digital platform, and attendees generously raised more than £1400 to contribute to the repair of Bateman’s Tomb in Middleton. Our thanks to all who attended the two sessions and for your generous donations. We hope Bateman’s legacy sparks the enthusiasm of our next generation of archaeologists, historians and landscape explorers.
3D-printed words taken from the National Park boundary description, from the GUIDEline project
White Peak by Rose Ferraby
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Identifying special Derbyshire landscapes
Squeezer stile in a boundary wall at Crich
SARAH WHITELEY describes a new holistic approach to recording historic landscape character in Derbyshire
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erbyshire County Council Cultural Heritage team recently undertook a pilot project which used Derbyshire Historic Environment Record (DHER), Historic Landscape Character (HLC) and Derbyshire Landscape Strategy data, to identify areas with key cultural heritage characteristics. Derbyshire has already been the subject of two indepth studies of the development of the character of its landscape. The Derbyshire Historic Landscape Character Assessment (DHLCA) was conducted in the late 1990s by a team hosted by the Peak District National Park Authority. The aim of this project was to digitally map the historic landscape character of the large area of the county which was not part of the National Park, complementing a similar study which had been completed for the area of the National Park. Analysis and interpretation drew on the substantial resource of early maps and surveys of the county, collated from a range of archives, the earliest dating from the mid-16th century.
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This project was succeeded by Derbyshire Historic Landscape Characterisation (DHLC) project, conducted between 2009 and 2013 by the then Historic Environment Record Officer, Nicola Manning. The methodology for this project was based on the English Heritage template for delivering HLC projects and used 1st edition 25 in. OS and modern OS mapping. In 2003 Derbyshire County Council published Landscape Character of Derbyshire, building on the work done nationally by the Countryside Agency (now Natural England) in their landscape characterisation programme. The Derbyshire study identified 39 Landscape Character Types (LCT) across 10 National Character Areas (NCA) to help describe the diversity and character of the county’s landscapes. The recent pilot project aimed to review and analyse the diversity of HLC types within the spatial framework of Landscape Character Areas identified in Landscape Character of Derbyshire. DHER information was also assessed in order to try to identify areas which retained a high level of both historic environment and landscape value. The pilot project timescale was relatively short and meant that it was only possible to study one Landscape Character Area: C.A. 50: Derbyshire Peak Fringe and Lower Derwent; which is made up of six Landscape
Character Types. Data for all of these LCTs was collated and three of these were written up in detail. On the basis of this analysis, a sample of areas at which it was considered that well preserved examples of key HLC types survived, particularly those associated with known monuments, were visited in the field. The research has demonstrated that within each Landscape Character Type, certain Historic Landscape Character types occur most extensively, usually influenced by terrain, soils and intensity of agricultural activity. These areas are associated with certain types of archaeological features, monuments and buildings. For instance, in the ‘Wooded slopes and valleys’ LCT, greater time depth of settlement is reflected in irregular enclosure and woodland assarts associated with medieval defended sites, deer parks and moated manors. Evidence of medieval and later industrial activity frequently occurs in ancient woodlands including charcoal burning platforms, white coal kilns (Q-pits), lead smelting and small-scale stone quarries. Recent LiDAR surveys have increased the number of such sites recorded in the Derbyshire HER. One exciting discovery, confirmed through targeted site visits, was the near complete area of the medieval open field system associated with the village of Crich. Existing field boundaries still define this area and fossilised strip fields, defined by stone walls and hedgerows, still survive within it. The fact that this feature can still be read in the landscape is of considerable local significance. This area is now recorded as a ‘Monument’ in the
Derbyshire Historic Environment Record. It will now be considered a ‘non-designated heritage asset’ in the planning process, therefore any large-scale planning applications or agri-environment schemes relating to this land will require a level of archaeological assessment. The next stage is to approach Historic England for funding to roll out the project across the county outside the National Park. The overall aim is to identify areas with key cultural heritage characteristics. These areas can then be sensitively managed, through the planning process and agri-environment funding, to retain their special character and interest.
The Historic Landscape Character area of Crich (© Crown copyright & database rights 2020)
Hollow way between Lea and Upper Holloway
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The Tupton excavation in progress
New light on Iron Age Derbyshire STEVE MALONE and KRIS POOLE discover new evidence of the Iron Age in eastern Derbyshire Aerial view of the Tupton site with overlay of identified features (blue=Iron Age; red=Roman).
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e reported in ACID 2016 the results of excavations at Hanging Banks, Wingerworth. The focus then was on the Roman period remains, but these perhaps overshadowed a key point about the preceding Iron Age occupation and about the Iron Age in northeast Derbyshire generally. Subsequent excavations just a mile to the southeast at Ankerbold Road, Tupton have brought this to the fore. In both cases a clear pattern of enclosures and linear boundaries was evident
in geophysical survey and targeted by trial trenching. Evaluations at both sites yielded only Romano-British pottery as dating evidence. It was only the shape of features in the geophysical survey that suggested the possibility of prehistoric phases, although in some cases this could be misleading. Open area excavations of over 3ha at both sites revealed plentiful evidence of Roman period occupation, but still no clear dating evidence for earlier phases. It is only through the use of radiocarbon dating that we can tease out a picture of early-middle Iron Age occupation at Tupton and later Iron Age occupation at Wingerworth. A round house gulley at Tupton was dated to 672 to 429 calBC (65.9 per cent probability; dates calibrated against the tree-ring record), and the large D-shaped enclosure to 366 to 186 calBC (95.4 per cent probability). At Wingerworth a four-post structure (granary) was dated to 110 calBC – 79 calAD (95.4 per cent) and a round house gulley and enclosure ditch to 50 calBC – 120 calAD (95.4 per cent). The early occupation at Wingerworth seems likely to overlap into the early Roman period, but the adoption
Inset: Location map of the sites. (Background terrain model based on Environment Agency lidar, reused under Open Government Licence 3.0)
of pottery use at both sites was slow. Small amounts of material begin to be used from the mid-1st century to the end of the Hadrianic era, after which there is a major jump in the Antonine period, with the advent of the Derbyshire ware fabrics. This tails off rapidly in the early third century, with little evidence of activity after cAD 270. The occupants of both sites seem not to have been producing pottery in the Iron Age and were slow to adopt the use of Roman pottery on any scale until the early-mid 2nd century. The lack of Iron Age pottery in particular may reflect a situation where north-east Derbyshire was probably not producing pottery during this period, although this would not rule out an abundant material culture of rather more perishable materials that has not survived. In this respect the area shows stronger similarities, and perhaps cultural affinities, with South Yorkshire than with areas to the south. Accordingly, it may well be that the Iron Age is under-represented in the archaeological record of this area, particularly compared to other periods. Dating of features at Wingerworth and Tupton was achieved partly by the relationships of features and their shape and layout on the site, but the application of radiocarbon dating has been crucial to confirming Iron Age activity at the site. Identification of Iron Age occupation within the area in future is also likely to require a programme of radiocarbon dating on sites. Excavations at Hanging Banks, Wingerworth were undertaken by Trent and Peak Archaeology (now York Archaeology) in association with University of Leicester Archaeological Services for Bellway Homes; those at Tupton for Locus Consulting on behalf of Woodhead Group Ltd.
The four-post structure (possible granary). Charred wheat grain was recovered from the post-holes
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Cover story
Scout’s honour
Morgause with the new badge at Arbor Low
MORGAUSE LOMAS describes how she came up with a new archaeology badge for Derbyshire Scouts
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any factors encouraged me to create the new Derbyshire Scouts Archaeology Badge. One of the most fundamental reasons was the plethora of archaeological sites in the county; everything from the Neolithic henge of Arbor Low to the 11th century Peveril Castle at Castleton. As a recent archaeology graduate, I wanted to highlight this richness, and to inspire youngsters to take an interest into the history of their county, with so many archaeological remains on their doorsteps. The badge was launched in 2020, and is a badge for all Derbyshire Scouts, ranging from the ages of six to 25. It involves a multitude of activities, from taking part in excavations, creating Stone Age tools, to running community outreach projects. The catalyst for the badge’s creation was an online discovery weekend for the Scout of the World Award in June, 2020. This is a scheme that allows Scout Network members (aged 18-25) to take action on a chosen issue, and to undertake a project of their choice in order to address it. The scheme has three main themes: peace, the environment and sustainability.
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Initially, I struggled to try to fit a project into a single theme. Then, as the idea of the archaeology badge started to emerge, I realised I did not need to isolate the project to just a single theme but could cover all three. Throughout my degree, one of the peculiar things we used to say was an archaeologist’s answer is always just another question. This was something I have really come to appreciate, as it allows us to truly consider all aspects of a question or topic to make sure we are taking all possible answers into consideration. This idea of questioning ideas and thoughts was something I really wanted to reflect in the badge, allowing Scouts throughout Derbyshire to use archaeology to tackle all types of topics and questions we face in the 21st century – from climate change to discrimination. I have great aspirations for the badge in the future, and I would love for it to be expanded further afield. One exciting project I am currently working on is an archaeological site profile series, to be hosted on the badge’s Facebook page. During the six-week summer holidays last year, we highlighted six separate sites throughout Derbyshire, encouraging Scouts to visit them. This also helped them to tick off some of the requirements needed to complete the badge. We are collaborating with a range of sites in Derbyshire to try and offer incentives to get the Scouts out and experiencing archaeology in Derbyshire. The removal of A-level archaeology from the school curriculum in 2016 means that the first opportunity young people get to study archaeology is at university, thus greatly reducing the exposure of archaeology to young people. With this badge, I hope to inspire a new generation of archaeologists in Derbyshire, as well as showing people archaeology is much more than just digging holes and can be used to address greater issues within the modern world. More information about the badge can be found at: www.derbyshirescouts.org/activity/Archaeology, or on our Facebook page: Derbyshire Scout Archaeology Badge.
What they ate in medieval Derby
Excavation and sampling of a medieval cess pit
RICHARD GREGORY describes a long-awaited report which reveals some fascinating details about the diet of medieval Derbeians
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hile the process of archaeological excavation is often rapid, bringing a project to completion can sometimes take many years. This was certainly true of an excavation undertaken in central Derby, at a small site that is now home to Sadler Bridge Studios. This site lies at corner of two of Derby’s former medieval streets, Sadler Gate and Bold Lane, and back in 2009 Oxford Archaeology North was invited to excavate several small trial trenches, to see if any significant archaeology survived. This proved to be the case and so, after a four-year break, we returned to complete a larger excavation. With the fieldwork complete, the archaeology recorded, and the finds and samples collected and processed, a post-excavation assessment report was then rapidly produced, which recommended analysis and publication of the results. However, the project then stalled once more, and it was not until 2019 that we were finally commissioned to complete the project, and this has now been finished, resulting in an archive report, publication in the Derbyshire Archaeological Journal, and the safe deposition of the archive with Derby Museum. You might now be asking, was it worth the wait? Well, we at Oxford Archaeology North certainly think the answer is yes! The excavations uncovered some excellent evidence for 12th to 14th -century activity within two burgage plots behind the medieval buildings that once fronted Sadler Gate.
Within one plot, there were two medieval outbuildings, one a workshop associated with iron production and smithing, the first medieval building of this type to be excavated in central Derby. The site also contained a series of large pits that had been filled with sewage and rubbish. Although not the most spectacular-looking features, these pits contained a wealth of environmental information. Importantly, this included preserved plant remains, indicating that the townspeople ate oats, rye, and bread wheat, as well as peas/beans, which were grown directly in the plots. Wild plants, such as elderberries and blackberries, formed another element of the diet, and imported figs were also consumed, probably when native fruits were not available. A selection of common medieval culinary and medicinal herbs was also recovered, including hemlock, henbane and black nightshade, which are all plants requiring careful preparation to dissipate their poisonous properties. Historically, prepared hemlock was used as a sedative and antispasmodic, and during the medieval period it was thought that, when mixed with betony and fennel, it could cure the bite of a rabid dog. Black nightshade and henbane could have been used as painkillers or sedatives, while the bruised fresh leaves of black nightshade may have been used to ease pain and inflammation. In addition to the plants, the pits also contained numerous animal bones. These indicate that cattle, sheep and pigs were cooked, and that fish were another element of the medieval diet. Although some sea fish were recorded – which are likely to have been preserved, either pickled, smoked or salted – the majority were freshwater fish. These were probably from the River Derwent, and, unusually, they were very small in size, and so must have been caught using some very fine nets. They were also from species now considered inedible, including sticklebacks, which may well have been boiled to create Derby’s medieval equivalent of a bouillabaisse. All in all, then, these rather unassuming pits provided some excellent insights into the diet and economy of Derby’s later medieval townspeople. And they certainly highlight the value of excavating areas to the rear of the main street frontages – as well as the virtue of being patient in waiting for the results.
Fig pips recovered from one of the pits
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Nether Haddon revealed
Aerial photograph from 1984 showing Nether Haddon from the northwest, A6 on the left (Derrick Riley)
Surveys by post-graduate archaeology students from the University of Sheffield have provided new insights into the deserted medieval village of Nether Haddon. Report by COLIN MERRONY and TOM MILLINGTON
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he relaxation of Covid-19 measures in May last year finally allowed the resumption of fieldwork for Masters students on the Landscape Survey module in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Sheffield. Working in collaboration with the Peak District National Park and the Haddon Estate, the students undertook an archaeological survey at the site of the Deserted Medieval Village (DMV) of Nether Haddon, just across the A6 from Haddon Hall. The site, which spreads across a north-east facing slope overlooking the Wye Valley, is clearly visible as a series of earthworks and is closely connected to extensive areas of surviving medieval field systems. Several walkover surveys had taken place in the 1980s and 1990s which mapped out the village site and the adjacent areas of medieval field systems and parkland. The aim of the 2021 survey was to build on this and create the first accurate and detailed earthwork survey of the village site using a total station (an instrument which measures the direct distance to a target very precisely), a GPS receiver (using satellite signals to precisely define the location of the receiver) and a drone (low level aerial photography). Secondly, part of the village site was investigated using geophysical surveys to provide some indication of the potential for underground archaeological remains. The former settlement of Nether Haddon is mentioned in Domesday Book (1086) along with the neighbouring
Resistivity survey being undertaken on the site
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village of Over Haddon, both of which were connected to the manorial centre of Haddon Hall. The timescales for and the reasons behind Nether Haddon’s decline are still unclear. The favourite interpretation of the village’s abandonment is that the village was cleared following a 1330 licence to empark lands surrounding Haddon Hall, although potentially the village continued beyond this date and subsequently declined after the onset of the Black Death in the 1340s. Eventually the village site was incorporated into the deer park surrounding Haddon Hall, within a field known as “Little Park”. The use of the site continues to be unclear through this period, although it appears that by the mid16th century at least, the site of the village was under pasture, primarily for sheep grazing. The earthwork survey revealed a series of platforms which are primarily clustered around the main curving holloway, an ancient trackway which runs through the village. Both resistivity and magnetometer surveys were undertaken across a significant part of the site. Overall, the resistivity provided the clearest results, with several possible structures identified which are not visible on the surface. A final twist in the investigations at Nether Haddon was the discovery of several historic aerial photographs showing the earthworks of the deserted medieval village, taken by Derrick Riley in December 1984. This rediscovery came about as the University of Sheffield’s Department of Archaeology began a project to catalogue and digitise the Sheffield Library of Aerial Photography in the hope that this previously under-utilised resource can be made more accessible to students, academics, researchers, and the wider public. The survey undertaken last spring indicates that Nether Haddon was once a sizeable settlement with several dwellings, outbuildings and associated enclosures. However, there is much more to survey on the site and it is hoped this project will continue in the future. Acknowledgements: The survey was undertaken by Masters students Claire Asplin, Helen Basson, Nicola Barber, Rachel Delatte and Tom Millington and supervised by Dr. Bob Johnston, Dr. Guglielmo Strapazzon and Colin Merrony. Thanks are also extended to the Haddon Estate and the tenant farmer for granting access to the land.
Mam Tor magnified COLIN MERRONY of the University of Sheffield describes how a new survey of the Mam Tor has shed a startling new light on the hillfort
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he well-known hillfort of Mam Tor stands at the head of the Hope Valley, with Edale to the north and the valley of the Blackbrook, which runs down to the Goyt Valley, to the west. Excavations undertaken by the University of Manchester in the 1960s produced a radiocarbon date from the late Bronze Age. While there has been some limited archaeological work on Mam Tor in the years since the 1960s there has not been any detailed survey work. Mam Tor is known not only for its dramatic location and its huge enclosing ramparts, but also for the many hut platforms cut into the slopes within the hillfort. In the 1960s excavations, 10 of these features were investigated. The results showed that these were the sites for buildings, generally with a gully at the back of the platform and then evidence of shallow deposits
This QGIS image highlights areas which receive more light (e.g. flat terrain or ridges) and presents areas which receive less light, such as pits and ditches, as darker
Local relief model image where the overall shape of the hilltop is removed to allow the smaller changes, such as archaeological features, to stand out more clearly
which were interpreted by the excavators as suggesting sporadic or seasonal use of the site, rather than longterm permanent occupation. In the summer of 2020, a new survey was conducted by students from the Archaeology Department at the University of Sheffield. This survey was the basis for Poppy Forshaw-Perring’s dissertation for her MA in Landscape Archaeology. In addition to some geophysical survey the whole area of the hillfort was photographed from a drone by David Inglis. These photographs were taken at consistent height and spacing on a regular grid pattern. This ensured that each photograph overlapped with the photographs around it. The survey resulted in a total of 598 photographs and these were then combined to form an orthomosaic (merging them together to make a single large image). Alongside this a surface model was created as a result of Structure from Motion processing. This allows a three-dimensional surface model to be created from a series of two-dimensional images by using the location differences between each image. Careful enhancement of this surface model within QGIS software, supervised by Dr. Guglielmo Strapazzon and myself, allowed the visibility of smaller, archaeological features to be enhanced and a new interpretation for the hillfort interior to be completed. In addition to examining small features this method also allowed 26 cross-sections across all parts of the ramparts to be calculated and recorded. The analysis defined 133 platforms ranging in size from 17m2 up to 90m2 within the hillfort. Many of these platforms were in areas outside those previously defined where platforms existed. The survey not only defined previously unrecorded platforms but also allowed a more detailed analysis of platform size and orientation, and a consideration of where there seem to be groups or clusters of platforms. For example, larger sized platforms are spread across most of the area of the hillfort, where the smallest platforms are almost all in the south-western part of the hillfort. Of course, this is a long way from being able to explain why these differences may exist, whether they relate to different periods of occupation, because different activities took part in particular areas within the hillfort or for some other reason. However, this new level of detail not only provides a basis for future studies to monitor erosion and other changes on the site, but also allows more questions to be asked which archaeologists can explore in the future.
Orthomosiac of Mam Tor created from the UAV (drone) photography
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Ben investigates the island forts in the Solent
The aerial archaeologist BEN ROBINSON, TV’s archaeologist in the sky, tells editor ROLY SMITH how it all began
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wenty-two-year old Ben Robinson had just completed his computer science degree and was sitting on a tractor in a queue at a Cambridgeshire grain store, waiting to unload, when he heard a local radio interview featuring a nearby archaeological dig. “It was on Ermine Street, north of Royston, and they wanted volunteers,” recalls TV’s popular ‘flying archaeologist.’ “So when the harvest was over, I went along. Two weeks later found myself on the payroll, and they asked me if I wanted to stay on that winter.” As a child, Ely-born Ben had always been fascinated
Ben ready for another helecopter flight
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by history, especially places and physical remains connected with the past, which would seem to lead him naturally towards archaeology. “But I didn’t think there was any possibility of working in these subject areas,” he explains. “I was always going to be a farmer or join the RAF.” And he has the RAF to thank for his passion for flying. “I was taught to fly by the RAF as a teenage air cadet,” he says. “But even during my instruction and solo flying, I spent as much time looking at the ground for archaeological features as I did concentrating on keeping the aircraft flying!” Ben started flying open-air “trike” microlights when, at six foot four inches, he could just let his legs dangle over the sides. He flies enclosed cockpit microlights now and says they are surprisingly comfortable – “better than many cars in terms of head and leg room.” He explains: “A large part of the attraction has always been spotting and photographing archaeology from the air. It is a great way to get a different perspective on the heritage which is all around us.” It was following that seminal Ermine Street dig that Ben realised that archaeology was what he really wanted to do, so he undertook a Masters degree at the University of York and then later went back to do a part-time PhD. By then he was the archaeological adviser to the newly formed Peterborough Unitary Authority, setting up a new Historic Environment Record, providing planning advice, undertaking emergency excavations, setting briefs and monitoring consultants’ and contractors’ work. “A sort of poacher turned gamekeeper,” he jokes. In 2009 he joined English Heritage (as it was then) as
an Inspector of Monuments and Team Leader, mainly dealing with the eastern side of the East Midlands, but with a special responsibility for dealing with Heritage at Risk across the region. Since the East and West Midlands offices merged, Ben is now one of two Partnerships Team Leaders dealing with Heritage at Risk across a region that spans from the Welsh Marches to The Wash, from Banbury to the Humber, and from the south Lincolnshire Fens to the High Peak. “In many ways, Derbyshire represents the great and varied range of heritage found across the Midlands – in fact across much of England – and the major risks that heritage faces,” said Ben. “Clearly the county has archaeological sites threatened by agriculture, scrub encroachment, vandalism, looting, and off-road vehicles. But it also has the sort of rich industrial heritage that most people associate with the north of England and West Midlands, such as textile mills crying out for sympathetic new uses. “Apart from the ongoing effects of weathering and natural decay, the root cause of most heritage at risk is the lack of funding and the lack of ability to invest in establishing viable new uses. There are some owners who sit on an ‘asset’ for years waiting for it all to fall down or for something better to turn up. Others have taken a punt, tapped into the assistance that is available, and made a real go of things. Ben continued: “The progress at places such as Cromford Mills, Darley Abbey Mills, Torr Vale Mill in New Mills and Haarlem Mill at Wirksworth, and elsewhere over the last decade has shown what can be achieved by trusts, private owners, and local business working with communities. “The great work done to lift the Wardwick and Strand areas of Derby, and Derby College’s transformation of The Roundhouse and former railway works are exemplars of private-public investment and what education institutions can do. The Crescent development in Buxton shows what a long journey it
can be sometimes, but my goodness, it is so rewarding and brilliant for a place when it finally comes off. It’s a stunning result.” Ben concluded: “I am very proud of Historic England’s role in helping to rescue these places, and more recently, in distributing various Covid-19 recovery grants to many other heritage sites across Derbyshire and the Midlands. Investment in historic places – turning a problem for a community into an opportunity – is about investing in the future, not the past.” Ben’s television and radio work has included research and on-screen contributions to many archaeology and history programmes. Starting as a seminal member of Time Team, he has since taken Griff Rhys Jones for a microlight flight; kept Rory McGrath upright as he “slodged” through a bog on stilts; immersed himself in a mist of preservative to show Mary-Ann Ochota prehistoric boats, and helped the Travel Channel’s Expedition Unknown in an (unsuccessful) quest to find King John’s treasure in The Wash. Ben has also co-presented three series of Channel 4’s Britain’s Most Historic Towns with Alice Roberts and in 2019, he presented the six-part BBC series Pubs, Ponds and Power: The Story of the Village, documenting the history of the English village, which included Cromford. A second series entitled Villages by the Sea was shown on BBC2 in 2020. Ben lives with his wife Joanne and 10-year-old son Wilfie in Huntingdonshire, “Which officially,” he says, “doesn’t exist anymore! I seem to have lived in various places on or just off Ermine Street for much of my life.” He concludes: “I believe that exploring historic places can offer insights into the past that are not legible in written history. I like to try to show how history is woven into the fabric of our present-day landscapes and lives, and how it can shape the future.” Ben’s beautiful new book, England’s Villages: An Extraordinary Journey through Time was published in September last year by Blink Publishing.
With fellow Time Teamers Tony Robinson (left) and Francis Pryor (centre). Phil Harding (background)
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Monitoring heritage sites f
Aerial photograph from February 2020 clearly showing the main ‘desire lines’, or routes people take, when visiting Arbor Low. Hundreds of aerial images are combined to generate a 3D digital model
HELEN MALBON describes how aerial technology is shedding new light on sensitive archaeological sites
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M
y Physical Geography PhD research at Keele University has been focused on using drones (unmanned aerial vehicles) at four earthwork heritage sites in the Peak District: Arbor Low, Gib Hill, Pilsbury Castle Hills (see Picturing the Past, p36) and Bull Ring at Dove Holes. The aim of the research was to demonstrate that aerial imagery alone can be used in low vegetation areas, such as open moorland, to document heritage landscapes and features to aid monitoring and preservation. This was done by creating photorealistic 3D models and Digital Elevation Models (DEMs). These were imported
from the air
A photorealistic 3D model of Gib Hill. It has been processed using Structurefrom-Motion (SfM) which tracks features over many hundreds of aerial images and aligns them to create a 3D model. Here, soil erosion on the barrow sides is identified in the purple areas and can be measured very accurately
into a Geographic Information System (GIS) to identify and visualise areas of damage or concern, providing highly useful information for organisations such as the Peak District National Park Authority and Derbyshire County Council. The resulting images can have incredibly high resolution of around 3-4 cm – better than that which is available online as downloadable datasets. All this can be achieved by using a widely available mediumsized drone, without having to use more expensive techniques such as LiDAR. The monitoring can be done as often as needed in order to supplement other surveys
of heritage features or landscapes in order to inform their conservation. The 3D models mean that a long-lasting digital archive record of each site has also been made. An additional aim of the research was to attempt hypothetical reconstructions of the monuments, to imagine how they may have appeared when first built, using both contemporary data and archaeologists’ estimations. This part of the research is still being completed. The resulting images and 3D models – of existing features or hypothetical reconstruction – could be used in public outreach and education on various platforms, and also provide access to individuals who cannot physically visit the sites. 2022 | ACID
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A day in the life of... a Building Conservation Officer
From rope-access cradle to graves
Helen inspects an historic building
HELEN CARRINGTON describes her diverse work as a building conservation officer for the Peak District National Park
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have been a building conservation officer for two years – most of that through the Covid-19 pandemic – which means my “day in the life” has changed, as most peoples’ have, to take account of the restrictions. The National Park Authority has been great at providing what we have needed to continue our service while working from home, although our site visits were curtailed and required careful management. We have used different methods including videos, photos and online meetings to assess buildings and engage with people. I confess I am looking forward to unrestricted working once again, so I can get into all the interesting nooks and crannies of the buildings as I did before. There are two other Conservation Officers in the Cultural Heritage Team, and together we cover 109 conservation areas and 2,900 listed buildings in the National Park. The team provides specialist advice to the planners on applications that affect listed buildings, conservation areas and other non-designated heritage sites. We also provide advice to owners of buildings on repairs and support the Monitoring and Enforcement Team when they need to investigate unauthorised works. Owners of listed buildings will be aware that they need consent for alterations or other works that affect the character or appearance of a building, both inside and out. This can even include re-pointing or changing windows and doors. If you live in a listed building and would like more advice, there
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is good guidance on the Historic England website (www.historicengland.org.uk), and all local authority planning webpages. A large proportion of my day-to-day work is dealing with planning and listed building applications which involves a lot of paperwork, looking at the plans and reading supporting documents that assess the impact of the proposals on the building. We have old maps, aerial photographs and historic photos of many listed buildings, as well as planning files that go back to the 1950s and sometimes have old building plans. These are a great source of information and it’s exciting when I find information that helps me understand the history of a building a little more. The best part of my job is carrying out site visits and exploring historic buildings, sometimes getting to see what has been uncovered during repair work. We have some really special buildings in the National Park and it is always a pleasure to meet owners who want to understand and work with the building to ensure its special character is protected and preserved for future generations to enjoy. The PDNPA owns and manages several trails along former railway lines and is responsible for the maintenance of the Monsal and Millers Dale viaducts – both listed buildings. My dad was a bridge engineer and I grew up with an appreciation of bridges, so when the Property Team asked for advice on works and listed building consent applications, I was pleased to help. Watching the rope-access specialists repoint the bridges above the River Wye was pretty special. But probably my favourite day was doing the fiveyearly inspections in the Staffordshire Moorlands with one of our volunteers. We visit listed buildings every few years to check the condition so we can highlight if a building is becoming vulnerable from lack of maintenance. I spent the day going to different properties and talking to the owners; I visited many farms, and quite a number of churchyard memorials. Examining the graves at Flash Church with such a lovely view across the National Park – you don’t get much better than that!
Abseiling to re-point a bridge on the Monsal Trail
Find of the Year
The silver denarius of Carausius, found at Risley
Face of the rebel ‘Emperor of the North’ MEGHAN KING, Portable Antiquities Scheme Finds Liaison Officer for Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, describes her ‘Find of the Year’
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ne of the most interesting finds from the past year found in Derbyshire and recorded under the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) is this silver denarius of Carausius, discovered by a metal detectorist in Risley, near Sandiacre. The coin dates to the Roman period, between AD 286 and 293 , and depicts the ‘rebel’ emperor Carausius; the complete PAS record can be found here at DENO7EB4B2 (https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/ id/1008481). Marcus Aurelius Mausaeus Carausius was a Roman military commander under Maximian and Diocletian; he commanded a fleet sent by the emperors to fight the Franks and Saxons. However, in AD 286, Carausius was accused of taking pirate spoil for himself and when the emperors sought to punish him, he made his escape to Britain. Once in Britain he declared himself ‘Emperor of the North’ and began gathering and training local citizens to help bolster his forces. Diocletian and Maximian failed in their attempts to suppress Carausius’s reign and by AD 290 the two emperors were forced to recognize his command of Britain and northern Gaul. This recognised reign however was short lived, as in AD 293 Allectus, Carausius’s minister of finance, assassinated him and assumed control. This relatively short rule of a breakaway emperor makes coins of Carausius especially interesting and important finds recorded through the PAS database, which are constantly adding to the catalogue of known Carausius coins. This silver denarius of Carausius depicts the emperor’s bust on the obverse with the legend IMP CARAVSIVS P F A, while the RENOVATIO AVG reverse type shows the wolf and twins, the image of Romulus and Remus which is commonly associated with the founding of Rome. This is only the third Carausius coin known with this
reverse legend, and the first found with this particular obverse legend. Dr Sam Moorhead, the PAS National Finds Adviser for Iron Age and Roman Coins at the British Museum, is currently working on a new Roman Imperial coinage volume for Carausius and Allectus, in which this coin will be featured. This coin also links to a case falling under the Treasure Act from 2007, which consisted of two gold aurei of Carausius. Gold coins of Carausius are extremely rare and this case, found in the Derbyshire Dales, increased the known corpus of gold Carausius coins to only 25 coins. This demonstrates the importance of recording finds through the PAS and the valuable knowledge that those finds can contribute to the wider archaeological community. The complete PAS records for these coins can be found here DENO-651C91 (https://finds.org. uk/database/artefacts/record/id/203507) and DENO64DAE1 (https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/ id/203503). If you would like to find out more about the Portable Antiquities Scheme or have found any items that you would like recorded, please contact Meghan King, Finds Liaison Officer for Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, on 01332 641903 or at meghan@derbymuseums.org.
The two gold aurei of Carausius, found in the Derbyshire Dales
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Roman, medieval and post-medieval Bolsover
Recording in progress
GAVIN KINSLEY reports on SLR Consulting’s new investigations of a multi-age site in Bolsover
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n 2019 an excavation took place on a development site north of the centre of Bolsover where Roman and medieval archaeological remains were anticipated from previous documentary and archaeological work. Just to the north lie the ‘Town Defences’, a medieval earthwork extending into the development site. A small excavation in 1993 had already provided a glimpse of a mainly 2nd to 3rd century Roman settlement within the western part of the site, but the new much larger scale excavation revealed a very different picture. Although the small open-ended Building 2 may have been of Roman date, direct evidence for settlement was lacking, and the key discovery was a contemporary substantial and apparently empty ditched enclosure with a central entrance. The settlement was now seen to lie outside it in a curved sub-enclosure. Artifacts were sparse, but osteological analysis showed that cattle played a significant part in the economy of the settlement, and the large enclosure may have functioned as a stock enclosure. Up to five medieval buildings, some with associated pits including craft or industrial remains, were also found. Artefacts were even more sparse than in the Roman period and dating of the buildings was obtained from fired clay and charred plant remains. One pit contained the remains of a fired clay structure and some melted lead trails on pottery suggesting an industrial or craft process.
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The date ranges of the buildings lay variously within the late Saxon to early high medieval periods, but, assuming the two samples taken from Building 1 to be contemporary, its destruction can be dated to the period 1110 to 1190. Clive Hart’s 1988 model for Bolsover’s development (in Bolsover: A Town is Born) comprised the construction of the castle c.1070 and the formation of an early planned town, followed by expansion northwards over the excavation area in the 12th century, and the construction of the Town Defences further north again in c.1215. Though other interpretations are possible, the excavated evidence allows the buildings to fall within the expansion stage. Historic mapping shows that, allowing for later amalgamation, the excavation lay in the backlands of narrow plots of typical urban character, with the main occupation located on the Town End frontage further south. Despite the later inclusion of the area within the Town Defences, the medieval activity has the appearance of one short-lived phase. Given the possible craft or industrial activity also hinted at, it might reflect an ultimately failed attempt at commercial expansion. The best-preserved parts of the Town Defences within the site were preserved in the development, but excavation of a truncated part revealed a stony spread, thought to be the base of the medieval bank, over a buried soil. However, it was found to have been redeposited in the 18th century, and the activity seems to represent one of several breaches of the earthwork, no doubt to improve access to the plots from the north once the defences were no longer needed. The work will be fully published in the Derbyshire Archaeological Journal. SLR would like to thank Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC for funding the work and Steve Baker of Derbyshire County Council for his input during the fieldwork and reporting.
Provisional plan of the excavation site
Life on the edge
The winding wheel
ELIN PRICE delves into the life and work of the Cracken Edge Quarry
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uring 2019 I was a placement MA Landscape Archaeology student (University of Shefield) with the Peak District National Park Authority. In this role, I conducted a walkover survey of Cracken Edge Quarry, Chinley. Cracken Edge lies to the west of the National Park in the High Peak district. It forms the crest of the hill known as Chinley Churn, named from its shape, on the western side of the valley which runs between the villages of Hayfield and Chinley. Local shareholders owned the so-called ‘Slate Breaks’, which had existed since at least the 17th century. By 1800, Cracken was a substantial enterprise employing many local men. The quarry was formed to follow a strike of ‘Rough Rock Flags’ - millstone grit that splits beautifully into thin pieces perfect for flags and roof slates. Besides surface extraction, better stone at a greater depth was extracted by underground mining. Unfortunately, as concrete became cheap and accessible, the market for quarried slate reduced, and the quarry closed in the 1920s. My survey recorded the location, type, measurements and condition of features and a desk-based assessment
Men at work in the quarry
examined the relevant topographic and historic material. The site is peculiarly blessed with a significant amount of documentary evidence, including land deeds, photographs and personal accounts. This archive has greatly added to the significance and understanding of the site. The survey identified 59 features. Instantly recognisable is the continuous quarry face. This stretches over half a mile (1km) and in places reaches 32 feet (10m) in height. The stone has been worked by an expert technique of wedging and hammering at the top of the face to prise the rock away. Anecdotal evidence, and a possible shot hole, indicates that gunpowder was also used. In front of the quarry face is the flattish main working area which is covered with huge piles of spoil. The spoil heaps are cut by routeways and two long paths which lead to the track heading downhill. Stone was taken by this route from the quarry in horse-drawn carts. Eleven small rectilinear drystone structures were found widely distributed across the site. They were quarrymen’s huts, fashioned from spoil to provide shelter and storage. It was particularly exciting to find remaining machinery. This comprised a windingwheel and a crane at the northern end of the site. The winding-wheel and corresponding rail track were built in 1901 to improve the transport of stone to the bottom of the valley. However, it was soon decommissioned because the trolleys often jumped the tracks. Two long wooden components remain of the crane and a metal piece which resembles a hinge. It dates from the 19th and early 20th century, and was used for lifting and swinging stones into new positions. Aided by a 1960s mine survey, I found 10 mine entrances or adits. Most are small and rudimentary although one is notably large and has rope wear to the upper lip, suggesting stone was hauled from within. From historic photographs and mine surveys the most significant adit was just behind the winding wheel. It was a large, square, supported entrance and led to a tunnel with rail tracks. It has been entirely blocked and there is no sign of it now. The features recorded during the survey highlight the intensity of the working at Cracken Edge Quarry. While no stone has been extracted here for 100 years, the site provides a glimpse into the life and workings of this Derbyshire quarry. Thanks to the PDNPA, Derek Brumhead, Mr Needham and Mabel Bamford.
Entrance to one of the mine adits
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Managing the Dove in the Middle Ages Plan view of the laser scan data with timbers outlined in blue, water in the bypass channel in black
KRISTINA KRAWIEC describes how a diversion of the Dove uncovered fascinating clues about medieval river management
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rchaeologists from CFA Archaeology Ltd and Trent and Peak Archaeology (now York Archaeology), in partnership with the Environment Agency (EA) and Stonbury, undertook an investigation of timbers within a palaeochannel and beneath a concrete cap of a weir of the River Dove, at Dovecliff on the Derbyshire/ Staffordshire border. The timbers were revealed during the construction of a temporary bypass channel which was excavated to divert the River Dove to allow the removal of the weir. This work was designed by EA to improve biodiversity and fish passage along the entire catchment. The initial area of excavation was located in the bypass channel which, due to severe winter flooding, had revealed a cluster of upright timbers. These timbers were densely packed forming a north-south aligned structure located within a palaeochannel visible in the LiDAR data. This represented a former course of the Dove, which had been the County boundary until 1902. Rangefinder radiocarbon dates suggested that parts of the structure dated to the late 13th to early 15th century AD. To facilitate the rapid recording of these timbers in an area that experienced substantial challenges with the water table, a terrestrial laser scan survey was carried out. This scan was able to capture the structure in three dimensions and also record the site context. The resulting data will form the main part of the archive as the majority of the timbers were left in situ. A subset of the timbers was removed which, due to their size, was undertaken using a mechanical excavator. This demonstrated that some of the mainly oak timbers were up to 5m long, representing a feat of late medieval engineering. All the upright timbers were sharpened to a point at one end. A small trench excavated in an undisturbed portion of the site demonstrated that these uprights were packed with natural brushwood to create a formidable barrier. During the removal of the concrete capping of the present-day weir, further upright and horizontal timbers 24
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were recorded. These showed several phases of building with the latest phase including the placement of spent crucible bases to form a layer of ‘rock armour’ over the timbers. Samples were recovered from the bypass channel and weir structures for dendrochronological (tree-ring) analysis. Early indications suggest that the majority of the timbers were felled between AD 1525-1550, with other groups of timbers demonstrating repair and migration of the structure to the south during the 16th and 17th centuries. It would seem that the bypass channel timbers represent an earlier form of weir and as the river migrated southwards, either by natural or manmade processes, the weir was extended until it reached its present position. Historical sources record the presence of a mill stream at the site in AD 1342 and by the 18th century this stream powered Clay Mill Forge, perhaps the source of the spent crucible bases for the weir ‘armour’. Other wooden structures of slightly later date are also recorded in the Dove valley, particularly the ‘kid weir’ (a stabilisation structure using bundles of brushwood) at Dove Bridge. This demonstrates the potential for the valley to preserve early examples of river management both within relict palaeochannels and beneath later structures. Further work is ongoing in relation to the brushwood packing, the river paleochannel sediments and the laser scanning data. It is hoped that the tree-ring analysis will also provide significant information relating to the maintenance of the weir and the exploitation of the timber resources from the surrounding landscape.
Site plan
Curating our cultural heritage
Dale Mine after consolidation and (Inset) before
South West Peak Cultural Heritage Officer CATHERINE PARKER HEATH looks back on four years of achievement
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he last four years have been a whirlwind of activity for the South West Peak Landscape Partnership Scheme’s Barns and Buildings (BB) Project and Small Heritage Adoption (SHA) Project, both supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. As the projects come to an end, it is a good time to take a look back at what has been achieved. The BB Project has enabled the restoration of Reapsmoor Chapel and Schoolroom and Hobcroft Barn (aka Littler Barn), as well as a number of minor repairs to field barns such as Waterhouse Field Barn, which featured on BBC1’s Countryfile in May last year. The SHA Project has enabled heritage assets to be repaired or consolidated, including the ore bins at Dale Mine, a sundial at Butterton, and a limekiln in Gradbach. In total, over 35 heritage assets have been adopted. Over 100 trained volunteers have recorded over 200 field barns and more than 630 Volunteers recording Waterhouse Farm field barn heritage assets, and
our 15 trained volunteers have carried out building surveys on a number of field barns. Trails have been created focussing on the barns of Warslow, the historic letterboxes of Buxton, the evidence from the past 10,000 years along the Upper Dove Valley, and the remains of the private zoo, close to Hen Cloud and The Roaches in Staffordshire. Existing trails at Under Whitle Farm, Sheen and around the lost industries of Quarnford have also been updated. Many of these trails are now available through ArcGIS Story Maps. As well as volunteers, local schools and scouts have got involved with both projects, and archaeology students from the University of Sheffield have gained experience through work placements. This last year in particular has focussed on legacy. A number of self-sustaining volunteer groups are being developed, including the Peak District Limekiln Group and the Peak District Milestone Group, so the good work can carry on beyond the scheme. For further details about any aspect of the BB and SHA projects, contact the SWP Cultural Heritage Officer, Catherine Parker Heath at catherine.parkerheath@ peakdistrict.gov.uk
Three-year-old Riley McGill is delighted to find the Grade II listed Victorian Penfold letterbox opposite Buxton Opera House on the Buxton Letterbox Trail
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News
Restoring our railway heritage
Installation of interpretation underway inside the restored goods shed
Visitors to the Monsal Trail will have noticed that the former good shed at the station in Miller’s Dale has undergone a transformation from a roofless shell to a new multi-use space. This is the second phase of works at the site – the first phase saw the renovation of the former ticket office and waiting rooms and the much-needed provision of a café and information hub. Since the railway line at Miller’s Dale closed in 1967, the goods shed had fallen into disrepair – the original roof had been lost and the walls had become structurally unstable. The Peak District National Park secured a grant of just over £320,000 from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development to fund a new roof and repairs to the goods shed. This has been used to transform the shed into a free, interactive information space for visitors. The green credentials of the building are enhanced by the inclusion of solar panels. Both station building and goods shed at Miller ’s Dale are part of a number of structures that once formed a bustling stop-off
on the former Midland Railway line. The Monsal Trail is now a hugely popular walking and cycling route, attracting around 140,000 visitors a year, so the National Park is excited to be able to offer an enhanced visitor experience at this site. As well as securing an important piece of our railway heritage for the future, the project will support the rural economy in the area by signposting visitors to other attractions and businesses and extend the season by providing indoor space that people can enjoy at any time of the year. The National Park put out a call for people to share any memories or photographs they had of Miller ’s Dale Station while the trains were still running, and their stories contributed to the interpretation of the site. The goods shed was ready to receive its first visitors during the Christmas holiday last year. Please come and enjoy the new facilities, have a cuppa, and maybe take a walk or a cycle along the trail too.
Pop-up archaeology in Bakewell One unexpected benefit from the Covid crisis saw pop-up archaeological displays erected in the fronts of unoccupied shop premises in Bakewell. The Bakewell-based Archaeological Research Services consultancy teamed up with the Bakewell and District Historical Society and the local parish and diocese to produce displays in Portland Square explaining the “Decoding the Bakewell Crosses” project which it undertook in 2012. The pagan and Christian iconography of the Anglo Saxon and Anglo Scandinavian crosses in the churchyard of Bakewell’s Parish Church of All Saints was in urgent need of interpretation and conservation. Excavations showed that the Great Cross standing outside the eastern end of the church was not in its original position but had been moved there some time after the Anglo Saxon period. The discovery of a late Anglo Saxon grave of a young woman holding a child beneath the cross showed that the cross had been erected there at a later date than the burial. The grave 26
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A visitor inspects the Bakewell Crosses panels in Portland Square
was probably in the graveyard of the original Saxon minster at Bakewell, which was known to exist prior to the construction of the originally Norman church now standing on the site. Reuben Thorpe, Head of Field Archaeology with ARS, commented: “We have always thought it was important to try to give something back to the community, and this was a way to assist both local people and visitors to the town.”
News
Effigy of Plague victim revealed
The desecrated effigy of a possible victim of the Black Death in the 14th century found in a south Derbyshire church is believed to be the earliest alabaster effigy of a priest known in the UK. The newly discovered monument of a local priest, John de Belton, in St Wilfrid’s Church, Barrow-upon-Trent, dates back to 1348, and still has significant traces of gold paint, as well as more exotic minerals such as cinnabar and azurite. “It would have been a very bright, blingy type of statue when it was first made,” said Anne Heathcote, church warden of St Wilfrid’s, who made the discovery. “It is wearing priest’s robes, which have been very finely sculpted by someone who was obviously a master sculptor.” During the Reformation, the face of the effigy was smashed, his hands, once clasped in prayer, were cut off and the angels who cradled his head were decapitated. Afterwards, his shattered form lay hidden for centuries behind an old pipe organ, forgotten and enveloped in dirt. De Belton is thought to have lost his life to the Black Death while serving the parish in 1348. “We have two Black Death pits in the churchyard and because it’s a Knights Hospitaller church, we think that the Hospitallers looked after plague victims and buried them,” said Anne. She received a phone call from the Church Monuments Society five years ago saying that they knew of an effigy of a priest in the church. She confirmed this was the case and sent them a photo of the “filthy” statue. “I immediately got an email back, full of excitement, saying that this looked like a very important effigy. I was dumbfounded.” After raising £10,000 to clean, analyse and preserve the statue, it was due to be unveiled to the village in December last year – but the church was unable to open because of Covid restrictions. “Considering that De Belton may have been infected by the Black Death in the course of his duties, it’s ironic that we’ve put him back there in full view in the same year we had another pandemic,” said Anne.
Gentleman George
George Challenger (1937-2021) George Challenger, who has died at the age of 84, devoted most of his life to conservation, recreation and local history in Bakewell and the surrounding Peak District. George was brought up in his father’s vicarages in Sutton Coldfield and in the Shropshire countryside. He studied horticulture at Reading University, took a post graduate Diploma in Landscape design at Newcastle, and a planning course at Nottingham. George’s first four years of employment, from 1959-63, were with the Government agricultural department in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Not long before going to Africa he met Janet who followed him to Bulawayo where they got married. George came to the Peak District in 1966 when he was employed by the Peak Park Planning Board. As a landscape architect, he was involved in pioneering project work on the facilities for public enjoyment of the National Park, providing many of today’s popular car parks and trails. George always brought great skills, experience and commitment to his work. Later in his career George managed the Heritage Conservation Group and he recruited a part-time archaeologist (Ken Smith from Derbyshire County Council) and an ecologist in the early 1980s, and as the archaeology and ecology staff gradually grew, George remained in that role for the rest of his career. He took voluntary early retirement in around 1995. Early in his time in Bakewell George joined the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and continued as an active member for the rest of his life. He was involved with the management of Millers Dale Quarry nature reserve for almost 50 years. Over the 50 years that he was a volunteer at Bakewell Historical Society’s Old House Museum he was involved in every aspect of the running and maintenance of the building. He was chair of the museum committee for many years and contributed a deep knowledge of the history of the Old House, details of the building, and its former tenants. His tireless commitment over the years has meant that the museum has continued to thrive (see p31). George was involved with Caudwell’s Mill from the time the National Park became involved in trying to protect the building and keep it going as an historic flour mill. George’s former colleague Ken Smith, now a National Park Authority member himself, was full of praise for his former manager. “George always gave me my head and allowed me to develop my role,” said Ken. “His knowledge of wildlife was legendary, but he was also steeped in local history, and those two skills were entirely complimentary in his position.” George leaves Janet together with a son, a daughter, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. - George Wolfe
George in the field
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Young Archaeologists’ Club
Kit studies some old maps on his computer
a medieval method of cultivation. Now I can usually recognise it anywhere. I also dug a test pit in the garden, though didn’t find much – as usual. In some nearby fields I found several pieces of pottery, which I have tried to identify using information I found online. I have also experimented making pots from clay dug out of the garden. The best one so far is a large Bronze Age style pot. I haven’t fired this one but I did try firing a smaller one in a bonfire. The clay fired, but the pot broke. I think I need to improve my prehistoric pottery skills! After watching a documentary about an experimental archaeology site in Guédelon, France, where people are building a castle using medieval methods, I tried stone carving. It was rather difficult, and I expect it would take me a long time to build a castle, so the medieval masons were probably very much better at it than me. After visiting the ruins of Duffield Castle, I did a detailed drawing of a stone keep. I learned about castles, why they were built and how they were defended. I also made a working trebuchet out of an old pallet. It fired pebbles… and made a bit of a mess of the vegetable garden! It hasn’t just been my ideas, though. Natalie, our YAC leader, sent several “YAC-tivities”, including a recipe for yummy Anglo-Saxon inspired oatcakes, instructions for a “puzzle purse”, and a coin template to design your own medieval coin. I’m looking forward to YAC starting up again soon. Doing archaeology on your own is great but doing it with others is even better! The only thing I haven’t been able to do at home is geophysics. Maybe I should ask for a magnetometry set for my birthday?
Laying siege to the vegetable patch KIT BAILEY of the Peak District Young Archaeologists’ Club did not let the lockdown dampen his enthusiasm for ‘YAC-tivities’
W
hen YAC stopped running due to Covid 19, I decided I wouldn’t let that stop me doing archaeology. Fortunately, although I missed the YAC meetings, I found many other ways to learn. Like a lot of people, I have been learning at home much more over the past year, and Dig School, a series of online archaeology workshops, was a great place to start. It was brilliant for understanding all kinds of archaeology. Another thing I did was to watch old Channel 4 Time Team documentaries. We spent a lot of evenings doing this, and I think we’ve watched all the episodes available now. During the first lockdown, we studied old maps of our local area and tried to match the roads, houses and other features to what we could see in the landscape today. We went for lots of walks and tried to find the route of the old roads and tracks on the maps. It’s surprising how many of them are now footpaths. We also looked in the fields for traces of ridge-and-furrow,
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Kit tries out his trebuchet in his back garden
Navio and life at the edge of Rome
Following the excavations at Navio reported in last year’s ACID, ROS WESTWOOD of the Buxton Museum and Art Gallery looks back at further connections to Roman Derbyshire
I
was interested to learn more about the excavations at Brough in last year’s ACID. It is amazing that artefacts like these should be found here, near the village of Brough, and off almost every beaten track. Or is it? This pandemic year has made us almost forget the relevance of local museum collections. I wanted to remind everyone to visit their local museum and see what is on display. Here at Buxton you’ll discover Romano-British material that was all found locally, in Buxton, Melandra, Carsington, and indeed at Navio – modest sites in the much busier web of Roman occupation of northern England. The Roman camp at Navio was built in about 75 BC. The road south west linked Brough and modern Bradwell via the Batham Gate Road to Buxton. A milestone found at Silverlands, Buxton (also in the museum) indicates the two places as being about 11 miles distant. It is suggested the small garrison was located here to oversee lead mining interests. Navio however is also on the border route across the Pennines, north of which the Brigantes still held power. Did this first camp fall into disrepair; was it almost abandoned as the Roman progressed north? In about 150 BC there was a local insurrection, and somthing had to be done, as was recorded in a large centurial stone. Do these finds in the current excavation come from this period of re-occupation? You can imagine these men from Acquitaine looking out at the inhospitable landscape. But they had with them items familiar to every Roman soldier to make life bearable: an amphora
containing oil or wine or liquamen; and a mortarium, wide-rimmed with a pouring lip, made of a gritty cream body, particularly used for making soft cheese and terra sigallata from Gaul (also made in Britain), the rich red clay body burnished to a shine. Similar stylish bowls were found at Melandra and Silverlands at Buxton. Finds from the 1903 excavation provides hints about two of the men in camp. Julius Verus was governor of Britain in 154CE – 158CE, famous for putting down the Brigantes. But there is another name from the 1903 excavation on a barely readable gritstone altar [right], found in an underground building of the fort. The museum records tell me that the inscription reads: DEAE ARNOMECTE AEL(ius) MOTIO V(otum) S(oluit) L(aetus) L(ibens) M(erito) Which is translated as: “Aeilius Motio fulfilled his vow gladly, willingly and deservedly to the Goddess Arnomecta.” Alas, Aelios Motio does not appear in a Google search, but it seems he adopted some local customs. His vow (wouldn’t you like to know what it was?) was made to the Celtic goddess, Arnemecta (Buxton’s Arnemetia), the goddess of the grove venerated here too, at the confluence of the Bradwell Brook and the River Noe. Equally intriguing from the 2019 excavation is a Derbyshire ware pot found at the gateway to the site, under a gatepost. Is this the marker for the edge between Rome and the land of the Brigantes? Or a symbol of Julius Verus crushing the local population? Is it this event, and people’s long memories, that allow the fort to crumble back to dust and be left abandoned until the archaeologists arrived? I look forward to receiving these new artefacts into the collection at Buxton Museum. While there are many similar items here, these will be different: they will have different manufacturing marks and tell different stories. At the museum we will continue writing a more complete tale about life at the edge of Rome.
Reconstruction of Navio by Shelagh Gregoory
Gritstone altar from Navio
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News from the Societies
Zooming in on history
Socially-distanced DAS working party at the Morley Park blast furnaces
L
ike every other organisation, Derbyshire Archaeological Society has had to adapt its activities in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, and our winter programme of evening talks for 2020-2021 was made using Zoom. This turned out to be a real success and has been particularly appreciated by members who find it difficult to attend our traditional evening meetings in Derby. We have kept our members informed through regular emails, updates to the website, our twice-yearly newsletter, and the 2020 volume of Derbyshire Archaeological Journal – 250 pages of high quality archaeological and historical research. We refreshed our archive of DAJ on the Archaeology Data Service – all 140 volumes are searchable online with anything over five years old free to download. We also publish Derbyshire Miscellany, which is a magazine of shorter articles focused on local history. In the past this has been paid for separately, but in future it will be included in the basic subscription, with an expanded remit to cover archaeology, architecture and industrial archaeology. The pandemic arrived at a particularly frustrating time for us, as we had just re-opened our library in its new home in the Strutt Centre, Belper. This has been built
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up since the society’s inception in 1878 and comprises over 2,500 books and many journals, with a focus on the history and archaeology of Derbyshire, including a number of rare volumes. The library had to close for over a year, but as restrictions eased we were able to re-open for members to browse and borrow. We also welcome visits from non-members – our website provides information on the library opening hours (usually twice a month) and a searchable catalogue, as well as information on all the society’s activities. One of the few opportunities for members to meet up face-to-face in the last year has been on our working parties at the Morley Park blast furnaces site, near Ripley. As well as the usual tasks of litter picking, vegetation management and fence repairs, this year we received a grant from Historic England to install some additional metal grills to prevent access to the interior of the structures. With easing of restrictions in 2021 we were able to hold a limited summer programme of walks, and for our 2021-2022 winter programme, we hope to hold a mix of online and face-to-face meetings. Please check out our website www.derbyshireas.org.uk for the latest details. -Ian Mitchell
The search for Sir John’s “mighty howse” The precise location of the “mighty large howse” built at Radbourne, near Derby, by Sir John Chandos (c.13201370), architect of many significant English victories over the French during the early phase of the Hundred Year War, had never been found. The hall had allegedly been of considerable size, able to accommodate 100 people, with stabling for 200 horses and substantial cellars. The Radbourne History and Archaeology Group (RHAG) resolved to go in search of Sir John Chandos’ lost hall. To do so it secured:(i) permission for an excavation from the landowner, the Chandos-Pole family (ii) funding from the National Lottery, Heritage Lottery Fund, Mick Aston Archaeology Fund and the Royal Archaeological Institute (iii) help from a group of professional archaeologists and relevant experts, led by project manager Dr Ian Parker Heath of Enrichment Through Archaeology Following analysis of primary and secondary documents, and various surveys (including tape and off-set, resistivity, drone and LiDAR), a target site for Sir John’s Hall was identified in the parkland of the current Radbourne Hall, south of St Andrew’s Church, in a landscape that the surveys revealed to be rich in medieval archaeology. The most significant find of the excavation was that there had been a building at the location, but no physical walls were left. The excavations revealed evidence of carefully robbed-out walls with a uniform infill, suggesting that care had been taken to dismantle the building and relocate some of the parts, possibly to the new hall – the current Radbourne Hall. There was also clear evidence of fire.
A pistol ball was excavated that appears to have been fired into masonry, probably between the 17th and early 19th centuries. A silver sixpence dated 1743 was also recovered, clearly showing the head of George II on one side and the coats of arms of the home nations on the other. It was clearly apparent that the site had eventually been subject to demolition and a significant amount of debris was found immediately below the subsoil. Sir John Chandos The bricks unearthed – some complete, some in parts from the Bruges – were found to be from at least two different sources: Garter Book bricks made on the estate itself, and reused bricks from (British Library) other buildings. The bones that were excavated were all from animals and fish. The bones were table waste, and some of the animal bones had been gnawed. Fish scales and oyster shells were also found. The excavations also yielded charred cereal grain and found that mature oak trunk wood had been burnt, and that mature oak and ash had been used for fixtures and fittings. Most of the medieval pottery that was excavated came from the 13th and/or 14th centuries. The post-medieval pottery came from between the late 15th and mid18th centuries. Notable were sherds of Cistercian and Midland Purple wares. Analysis of the pottery suggests that some was made at Burley Hill near Duffield and some at Brackenfield near Crich. Part of a Baluster style jug, a small ointment jar, a spittoon and Oriental Batavian ware were also discovered. Very few finds from the 19th century onwards were found, suggesting that the site was effectively sealed with the final demolition of the building. -Maxwell Skipp
Exciting new start for Bakewell Historical Society The pandemic has been a quiet time for the Bakewell Historical Society and the Old House Museum, in common with many other voluntary organisations. However, things were starting to get back to normal as restrictions eased. The society and the museum have recently gained six new trustees and been successful in its application to become an incorporated charity. It is now preparing for reaccreditation as well as developing new ways of engagement. There are plans to better integrate the society with the museum, so that they can be more cohesive and complement each other. The diversity of the current team of trustees will be incredibly beneficial in implementing the changes that will inevitably take place in a manner that is
in accordance with the society’s new incorporated status. This is an exciting new start for both the society and the museum and there will be many interesting opportunities and indeed challenges ahead.
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A century of fieldwork
Recording a potential circular site on Strines Moor
T
he Hunter Archaeological Society was founded in 1912 and named after Joseph Hunter (1783-1861), a Sheffield-born genealogist and antiquarian, later Assistant Keeper of Public Records. Though Sheffieldbased, our remit covers the whole of South Yorkshire as well as north-east Derbyshire. Early on, the Committee tried to buy the site of Rotherham’s Templeborough Roman fort to save it from destruction and did a watching brief at the Sheffield Castle site. Freddie Preston and Leslie Butcher, members of our former Field Research Section, designed and set up the Hunter Index of Sites and Monuments in the late 1940s, which evolved into the present-day Historic Environment Record. Members have been involved over the years in fieldwork and excavation, for example at Swine Sty, Dennis Knoll and on Strines Moor. Members are also in demand to sit on a range of external committees and advisory groups, and we are called on to campaign on The socket stone of a wayside cross known as New archaeological issues of Cross, in a remote spot on Bradfield Moor in the north-eastern part of the National Park, is one of the concern. In a normal year, the sites regularly monitored by Hunter members. 32
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Society runs a varied programme of winter talks in Sheffield, organises walks and visits to excavations and sites of interest, and publishes papers in its biennial Transactions. Of course, 2020 and 2021 have not been normal years and, in common with many similar societies, the benefits to our members have been limited to lectures via Zoom. A really important and popular initiative that members undertake is regular monitoring of the condition of Scheduled Monuments (SMs), up to now in Sheffield and the eastern National Park. The SMs vary from earthworks, crosses, moats and motte and bailey castles, to deserted medieval villages, an abbey, dovecote, industrial sites and parks and gardens. Completed forms are sent to South Yorkshire Archaeology Service (SYAS) and thence to Historic England, to enable them to respond to any serious concerns. Until lockdown intervened last year, we were gearing up to visit Rotherham sites for the first time. Now we are preparing to do nine sites for the Peak District National Park Authority and 12 sites in the area monitored for SYAS in close liaison with Peak Park and National Trust rangers. Some Hunter members have visited a site for 10 or more years – it’s a great way to get to know your area, help to look after the sites and get some exercise. Anyone with an interest in our cultural heritage can join the Society (current annual subscription £15) and are invited to take a look at our website: https://sites. google.com/site/hunterarchaeologicalsociety and click on Membership. Or contact our Secretary, Dr Ruth Morgan, at: secretary@hunterarchaeologicalsociety. org.uk. The website also has information on excursions and the Transactions, and there are three self-guided trail leaflets. - Mandy Hayes, Ken Smith, Ruth Morgan and Phil Sidebottom
Bookshelf: reviews by Roly Smith
River Kings Cat Jarman William Collins £25 (hb)
The finding of a tiny, facetted, orange-brown, carnelian bead, wrapped in tissue paper and kept in a large Tupperware box in Derby Museum, led bioarchaeologist Cat Jarman on a trail which was to take her to Baghdad in Iraq and Gujarat in India. The bead came from the grave of a Viking warrior at Repton, and it had remained, forgotten and uninterpreted, in the museum that since the original excavations at Repton by Martin and Birthe Biddle in 1982. It is hoped that the findings of the latest excavations, led by Mark Horton of Bristol University in 2017 (see ACID 2019), will soon be shared and published, unlike those of the Biddles of 40 years ago, which also still remain unpublished. The story
of Jarman’s quest to trace the origins of the tiny Repton bead forms the starting point for this fascinating history of the Vikings, from their roots in Scandinavia to the Silk Roads and eventually to the Far East. It takes her from the Baltic Sea and Gulf of Finland, following rivers like the Dnieper and the Volga, through to the Black and Caspian Seas and eventually to Baghdad and Constantinople or Istanbul, where a runic inscription in a gallery of the magnificent Hagia Sophia mosque records a visitor named Halfdan – a Viking name which intriguingly is also found at Repton. While described as a new history of the Vikings, the book concentrates almost entirely on their journeys to the south and east, and there’s only a passing mention of Leif Erikson’s equally ambitious journey across the Atlantic to the west, eventually reaching Newfoundland and North America 500 years before Columbus. But Jarman follows the journeys of the Vikings – then known as the Rus’ – from their Scandinavian homeland through the archaeological evidence they left in the landscapes of places like the townships on the shores of Lake Ilmen and the River Dneiper. Their trading with the east included furs, silks and coins (such as the hoard of Islamic silver dirhams found four kilometres from Repton at Foremark) and, perhaps most shockingly, in slaves. And although the title of the book is masculine, Jarman makes a strong case for the presence of powerful Viking women leaders, based on the archaeological evidence found in their graves. Maybe it would have been better titled River Kings and Queens?
Sheffield Castle: Archaeology, Archives, Regeneration, 1927-2018 John Moreland and Dawn Hadley White Rose University Press, Free to read online or download at: https://doi.org/10.22599/SheffieldCastle. Print version £53.26 (hb)
This free on-line book presents a unique perspective on Sheffield Castle by excavating decades of museum archives to reveal a building that made the ‘Steel City’ a seat of considerable power in medieval England. Although largely demolished at the end of the Civil War, Sheffield Castle has left an enduring legacy and continues to exert a powerful influence over the present city and its current regeneration. This weighty book (in its printed version) describes the ways in which successive building projects have uncovered the castle remains, and the future of the site, currently under active discussion following the demolition of the 1960s Market Hall. It also represents the first comprehensive analysis of the archaeological evidence for the castle, and the medieval landscape within which it lay. It publishes
for the first time all the major excavations carried out on the site and in the neighbouring deer park in the 20th and 21st centuries and includes the first modern analysis of the artefacts excavated. One of the highlights of the book are the wonderful archive photographs of the excavations and plans produced by archaeologists of the past. Sheffield Castle was of course the enforced home of the captive Mary, Queen of Scots, when Elizabeth 1 ordered that George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury and husband of Bess of Hardwick, should be responsible for her incarceration. But the principal value of this book is the way it uses the archives to tell the fascinating stories of those who rediscovered the castle, the circumstances in which they worked, their archaeological methods, and the influences that shaped them. It also places their endeavours within the current discussions about the place of the past in the present. These debates continue in the ongoing attempts to put the castle site at the heart of a heritage-led urban regeneration initiative. 2022 | ACID
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Our year in numbers What have the archaeology and heritage teams in the Peak District National Park Authority and Derbyshire County Council been up to over the last year? We provide support and specialist advice to other teams across our organisations, to ensure minimal impact to our heritage in the planning process and other land management schemes. We also help communities and researchers and look after our vital data. Here are just some of our key facts and figures for the year 2020/21.
21 360
Conservation Areas
6330
Listed Buildings
31
Community and research projects supported
Registered Parks and Gardens
1
27,718
629
Scheduled Monuments
48
World Heritage Site Countryside
Historic Monument Records
stewardship advice
2,689
HER records added/enhanced
Number of planning applications for which detailed archaeological/conservation advice was given ■ Number of planning applications monitored and pre-application advice given
919
■ Excavation
6
■ Evaluation
25
■ Monitoring
62
■ Building recording
70
■ DBA/Heritage statement
73
■ Preservation in situ
3
■ Other
34
Who are we? The key staff giving archaeological and built environment advice in our respective organisations are: Peak District National Park (Cultural Heritage Team)
Derbyshire County Council (Archaeological advisors within the Conservation, Heritage and Design Service) Archaeologist & Development Control Archaeologist: Steve Baker
Cultural Heritage Manager: Anna Badcock Senior Conservation Archaeologist: Natalie Ward
Historic Environment Record Officer: Dana Campbell
Building Conservation Officers: Helen Carrington and Sue Adam
Contact:
Assistant Conservation & Records Archaeologist: Del Pickup Contact via Customer and Business Support: Tel: 01629 816200 Email: customer.service@peakdistrict.gov.uk
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steve.baker@derbyshire.gov.uk
Tel: 01629 539773
dana.campbell@derbyshire.gov.uk
Tel: 01629 533362
Our year in pictures
Many layers of posters, wallpaper and newspapers in a room of the former Red Lion Inn at Wensley. Some very interesting wallpapers have been recorded and are being conserved. (© TJC Heritage Ltd)
Edward (aged three) discovered a Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age barbed and tanged arrowhead outside a rabbit burrow in the Upper Derwent Valley. It was reported to the landowner and the PDNPA, and further examination of the site revealed a cremation burial (© Chris Atkinson)
The view of iconic Magpie Mine near Sheldon has been greatly enhanced as part of the national Undergrounding for Visual Amenity (UVA) scheme in National Parks and AONBs. Western Power Distribution have removed the low voltage overhead cables from the site and placed them underground
A digital StoryMap of Gardom’s Edge was created by the University of Sheffield for the Festival of the Mind. You can experience the map and immersive tour with 360 degree photography at: https://festivalofthemind.sheffield.ac.uk/2020/futurecade/wild-edges/
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Picturing the past
Pilsbury Castle Hills T
his aerial image shows the dramatic motte and bailey of Pilsbury Castle Hills. It is unusual in having three outer baileys (fortified outer enclosures) rather than one. This is one of many images that is being used by researchers at Keele University to test the use of drone photography and 3D digital models in for mapping and monitoring erosion at heritage sites. (See feature on p18)
