The Blackden Trust Blackden


Reports

Fiona Sharpley and students discussing the features of the Mercian roundshaft

  


 

Reports of our events provide records of our activities for schools and for participants who have attended our events. They are a useful record of our activities each season.

The records for the events that take place in the current year are shown on this page. Those for previous years can be found in the archive of reports.

Other happenings are recorded on the News page.

2010

Landscapes and Legends

Saturday 22 May 2010

Tutor: Tom Hughes

Considering the Saxon roundshaft

Considering the Saxon roundshaft

Legends are such an integral part of our lives that we accept them without questioning their origins, but during this course, we did and some fascinating theories were discussed.

Tom Hughes started the day by telling us the legend of the Dragon of Moston, where the dragon captures men and drags them into the mere, drowning them before he devours them. We wondered whether boggy ground is associated with tales of dragons, because bits of bog

In the marl pit wood listening to the legend of Jenny Greenteeth

In the marl pit wood listening to the legend of Jenny Greenteeth

bodies were found before they were properly identified. Other legends suggested other origins, some of them now more explicable in the light of twenty first century science.

In that frame of mind we looked at some of the symbolic features of the Old Medicine House and walked to the sinister marl pits in a nearby wood. Here Tom told the tale of Jenny Greenteeth and we talked about the psychological lure of water.

Back in the Old Medicine House we considered whether the Legend of Alderley might hold a memory of activity on the Edge. Alan Garner promised a possible explanation of this legend in the lecture ‘From Seven Firs and Goldenstone’, which he will be giving on 20th October at the Grosvenor Museum in Chester.

Tom also told us of legends that had arisen after fictional stories about real landscapes had been written, which led us to the conclusion that whether some legends contain a grain of truth or not, we still need to tell tales to unriddle the world.

Comments from participants at the Landscapes and Legends course – 22nd May 2010

‘A legendary day in a beautiful landscape.’  ‘A wealth of interesting stories and a treat to meet such a lovely group of people.’  ‘It’s so important not to lose our heritage and culture in this modern world.’  ‘An intimate atmosphere created by the small group.’  ‘A brilliant day. Fantastic stories. Lots to think about.’ ‘A real gem of an experience.’

Science meets Archaeology

Monday 15th March 2010

Tutor: Professor Sue Kilcoyne
Laboratory technician: Jay Smith

Setting up the resistivity experiment

As part of National Science and Engineering Week 2010, Sue Kilcoyne and Jay Smith from the School of Computing, Science and Engineering joined forces with Griselda Garner and Graham Massey from The Blackden Trust to show pupils from Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School how advanced scientific techniques now play an extremely important part in all aspects of archaeological investigation; from the initial geophysical surveys of potential sites to the sophisticated and often complicated analysis of the artefacts discovered during the excavations.

The presentation started with an introduction to the scientific techniques that are now an integral part of archaeological investigation.  Sue described how resistivity, magnetometry and metal detecting can help archaeologists piece together and understand the fragmentary evidence history has left to be deciphered.  She outlined the strengths and weaknesses of the different techniques and discussed the need to combine the results of several techniques in order to obtain the best description of a site.

The students then had a chance to put what they had learnt into practice.  They were provided with mini archaeological sites (sand in plastic troughs) in which objects with varying resistivity were buried.  First they surveyed their site, using mini resistivity probes.  Jay and Graham showed the students how to use the equipment and how to log the results into a program to convert the data into a diagram, which would indicate where the objects were buried. The students then used their results to carry out an excavation to find the buried objects.

The session finished with a presentation from Sue describing the novel and exciting techniques using neutron beams to probe deeply within objects, revealing the detail of their structure and providing unique information on their origin, composition, manufacture, use, and even their authenticity.  Sue also discussed how future scientific developments will expand the essential role that science now plays in the finding and interpretation of archaeology.

The day was a great success.  Three of the pupils asked to be included in the training excavation at The Blackden Trust in August and several other pupils also said that it would make them think more positively about continuing with a science course after GCSE.

For more information about Science and Archaeology please contact Sue at: s.h.kilcoyne@salford.ac.uk

Surveying and recording readings

Surveying and recording readings

Using resistivity data to guide excavation

Using resistivity data to guide excavation

Further information about past events:

Archive of reports

2007 Newsletter (219kB PDF)

2006 Newsletter (109kB PDF)

© The Blackden Trust 2009
    Updated: 06/09/2010		 The Blackden Trust is a registered charity no. 1115818