2009

Science meets Archaeology

Saturday 3rd October 2009

Tutors: Professor Bob Cywinski, Professor Sue Kilcoyne
Laboratory technician: Jay Smith
Post-doctoral Researcher: Stuart Astin

Zoology thwarts physics

The day started with a presentation from Professor Bob Cywinski of Huddersfield University. Bob introduced us to the advanced scientific techniques that are now an integral part of archaeological investigation. He showed us how the broad range of scientific methods now available, from resistivity, ground penetrating radar, magnetometry and metal detecting can help us piece together and understand the often fragmentary evidence the past has left for us to decipher. He outlined the strengths and weaknesses of the different techniques and discussed the need to correlate the results of several investigative techniques of any site to get a fuller picture of its story.

After lunch the students had a chance to put what they had learnt in the lectures into practice. Salford physicists Sue Kilcoyne, Stuart Astin and Jay Smith set up a mini-lab with the miniature resistivity meters that Jay had specially made for the course. He also made

Recovering detected metal

mini-sites of sand in plastic troughs in which he had buried objects with varying resistivity. The students were shown by Stuart how to use the equipment and

how to log the results into a program to convert them into a diagram, which would indicate where the objects were buried. The results were extremely close to those of a full-scale resistivity meter.

Having learnt how they worked, we used metal detectors to survey an area of disturbed the soil, and found a small and, as yet, unidentified metal object.

Bob ended the day with an exposition of the novel and exciting techniques that have only recently been adopted by archaeologists. These new techniques use beams of neutrons, exotic sub-atomic particles, to probe deeply within objects, revealing the finest details of their inner structure and provide unique information on their origin, composition, manufacture, use, and even their authenticity. He also showed us how future scientific developments will expand the essential role that science now plays in the finding and interpretation of archaeology.

This course drew together the strands that had been developed during the 2009 season, and was much appreciated by the students:

‘I found the in depth talk on the science behind archaeology really interesting and I enjoyed putting the theory into practice.’

‘The surveying techniques were explained simply and concisely, with no previous knowledge assumed - just what was needed.’

‘The resistivity experiment in the sandbox was a really good idea and demonstrated the technique well.’

‘Brilliant day, really interesting. As well as learning a lot, I laughed for most of the day due to the friendly atmosphere.’

Examining the results	Fine tuning the equipment
Programming the data	Surveying and excavating

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The Archaeology of Conflict

Saturday 26th September, 2009

Tutor: Dr Glenn Foard

Considering the effect of Civil War battles on St Luke's church, Holmes Chapel

Glenn Foard started the day with an introduction to the latest archaeological methods that are available for the study of battlefields and sieges. He showed us how precise field recording, mapping of data, historic terrain reconstruction, scientific analysis, calibre graphs and experiment can give new information about military action in different periods.

Glenn then demonstrated the sequence of actions needed to fire a Civil War musket. We discussed what archaeological evidence for different stages of a battle would survive down to the present, and how the conditions under which muskets were fired left distinctive marks on the musket balls and bullets. By closely examining lead bullets, both those brought by Glenn, and those found on site at Blackden, we were able to see those distinctive marks, and to see how new evidence for the events of a battle could be derived from them.

A session looking at the pattern of Civil War impact scars on the tower of St Luke’s church in Holmes Chapel provoked a discussion on how and why they might have been produced. Was the church used as a strongpoint in a skirmish as elements of the defeated Royalist army fell back from Middlewich (1643), or do the marks relate to the attempt by the Parliamentary garrison to break out from the Royalist encirclement of Nantwich? We plan to follow up our investigation with closer study of the church, including the interior.

We ended the day by trying our hands at metal detecting, in the systematic way that archaeologists use metal detectors for battlefield study, plotting finds systematically with the help of GPS. We discovered that considerable skill and experience are needed to understand the signals from these machines.

The students found it: ‘A highly interesting day. I most enjoyed the metal detecting and investigating the church. Even more of this original research would increase my enjoyment. Thanks, I hope to be back.’ ‘I enjoyed learning about lots of new and interesting things, especially about our local area. The activities were really enjoyable, particularly the metal detecting.’ ‘I enjoyed learning about the science behind archaeology and putting what we find into context, such as the battles. I also enjoyed using and handling the equipment and weaponry. I’d like to find out more about the science behind what we learn.’ ‘Another informative and pleasantly light-hearted course. I was surprised how much you could tell from a lump of lead!’

Recovering detected metal	Examining shot holes on St Luke's church Holmes Chapel
Examining firing marks on lead shot	Demonstrating firing of a Civil War musket

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Young people’s visit to the Archaeological Dig

Tuesday 25th August 2009

Potwashing finds from the archaeological dig

A fundamental aim in our education programme is to maintain contact with any student who has attended our courses for as long as that student finds it beneficial.  Every year, we organise a special event for students whose initial experience of the Trust was through a school visit, and who have shown a particular interest in what we do.

This year students and their parents spent an afternoon visiting the archaeological dig.  Students from several schools came and were shown what we were looking for, and what we had discovered.  Some students had first come three years ago, when they were in Year 5 of their primary schools.  For them it was their third visit, whereas for others it was their first.  As they washed some of the pottery finds and discussed what these and other finds could reveal about the past inhabitants of Toad Hall, they all became involved in the research we were doing.

Several students particularly enjoyed seeing the range of skills involved in an archaeological dig: ‘I enjoyed watching the archaeologists dig for the lost barn.’  ‘The hands-on approach and looking at the dig was brilliant. All the history was really interesting.’  ‘I enjoyed washing the pots and seeing the diggers dig. It was nice to see how the diggers did the whole job: the actual digging, the identifying and the paperwork.’   ‘I enjoyed looking at the dig sites and being able to see the diggers in action I also enjoyed washing the pots.’  ‘I enjoyed pot washing and watching the diggers and learning about a long, long time ago.’  ‘I really enjoyed pot washing as I found an intriguing cup with ‘Eaton’ on the bottom; the name of the family that lived in Toad Hall.  The cake was heavenly.’  ‘I liked the pot washing the most, but the labyrinth was great fun too.  Thank you for this beautiful day.’

And the parents appreciated: ‘A very interesting afternoon.  Child friendly and informative.  Thank you very much.’

Explaining aims of the archaeological dig

Considering the implications of the trench

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Archaeological Dig

Friday 21st – Thursday 27th August 2009

Directors: Mark Roberts, Richard Morris

Excavating

Students spent seven days at The Blackden Trust on a training excavation to find, record and characterise traces of a long outbuilding that appears on maps from 1789 and disappears by the end of the 19th century.

The 1789 survey, the Tithe Map and first edition of the Ordnance Survey show a building that lay aslant across the south-western boundary of the site as it exists today. However, the maps disagree as to its exact position, while the line of the boundary has itself been adjusted.

We accordingly opened two test pits just inside the boundary, and one just outside in the adjoining field.  The inner trial holes were at right angles to the long axis of the structure, whilst the trial trench in the field was set out at right angles to the anticipated gable end.  This last trench located a broad band of clay that had been laid in a line corresponding to the gable end.  Alongside the clay was charcoal from a burnt timber.  A heading laid out at right angles from this trench duly intersected a similar band of clay in a position corresponding with the southern long wall of the building.  Both deposits had escaped significant plough damage.  It is likely that they were strip footings, although at present it is unclear what sort of structure they carried.

In 2010 we shall extend the excavation to ascertain the nature of the building’s construction, its function, and date.

The diggers very much appreciated both the teaching of the directors and the catering skills of the Friends of The Blackden Trust: ‘A fantastic week with brilliant company. Well book.’  ‘A brilliant week.’  ‘Awesome week, great company, loads of fun.’   ‘Thank you for being such wonderful hosts.’

Opening a trench	Recording
Resting	Carousing

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Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School
Gifted and Talented Summer School

Thursday 23rd July, 2009

Tutor: Tom Hughes, Sue Hughes

Following the clues

Each year, The Blackden Trust links up with Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School to organise a day course for their annual Summer School. This year the school chose to explore the reasons behind belief in the supernatural as the theme for the day. By referring to artefacts found in Blackden associated with historical ritual and folklore, we were able to introduce the students to the concept that many beliefs arose from scientific ignorance and that some still survive, as superstitions, to this day.

Tom Hughes explained to the students, that by following a sheet of clues, they would find objects and plants in the garden that were associated with protection from evil spirits. The students hunted for horseshoes, for houseleeks, for quatrefoils, for rosemary and they walked the labyrinth to find wisdom and achieve grace. They examined old shoes, replica witch bottles and a scrip bag and tried to deduce the significance and meaning of their contents.

The students then went into the Old Medicine House and saw some of the protective artefacts that had been found in the houses and on the site, such as a desiccated cat buried under a hearthstone and the skeleton of a horse buried under the threshold of a building in the garden, and they considered whether the apotropaic marks scored into a beam in one of the rooms were secret symbols petitioning the help of the Virgin Mary.

Sue Hughes introduced the students to the medicinal and magical properties previously attributed to various herbs and the students made tussie mussies of the herbs and spices that had been considered a protection from illness and malign spirits.

Looking for wisdom	Thinking
Securing tussie mussies	A herb for beauty

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Pilgrimage and Protection

Saturday 4th July, 2009

Tutor: Tom Hughes

Examining apotropaic objects

The day started with an introduction to the spiritual reasons for going on a pilgrimage during the medieval period and the harsh conditions that pilgrims had to endure; the physical dangers, the exploitation by hawkers, and the songs and stories they told to ease the monotony of the journey. It was fascinating to see that human behaviour does not change, despite the difference in the perception of the world that we now have and that held by the medieval mind. Tom showed us replicas of ampullae and badges from several shrines and explained how these were thought to protect the pilgrims as well as to reduce the time they would have to spend in purgatory.

In the afternoon, we considered the various ways this site and the houses built on it were protected. We examined apotropaic objects from Blackden including hidden shoes, a dried cat and foundation burials and we looked at markings carved in the beams of the Old Medicine House.

These, in particular were an example of how traditions of protection continued in parallel to worship in the Christian Church.

Our visitors said, Blackden is such a special and unique place.  The course was fascinating.  It sparked lots of ideas!’  ‘It was so interesting to be surrounded by so much enthusiasm and knowledge.’  ‘A fantastic day! Very interesting house.’  ‘A great day.  Fascinating history.  Lecture very informative.  Building beautiful.  Interesting conversation.’  ‘Inspiring.  Thank you!’

Cat buried under a hearth at Blackden	Apotropiac marks in timber of the Old Medicine House
Shoes hidden in a roof space at Blackden	Lower jaw of horse buried under threshold at Blackden

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Visit by SPAB Scholars

Friday 3rdJuly 2009

Architect: Mal Fryer

Discussing

Four young Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings scholars joined Mal Fryer, as he was working on his survey of Toad Hall and the Old Medicine House.  This survey will be the guide for all future restoration and maintenance work on the two buildings.

As part of their course, the scholars spend three months studying country houses. Our building with its two timber-frame houses joined by a 1970s glass and brick link was one of them. While they were here, they drew and looked and drew what they saw.

We discussed the implications of having to move the Old Medicine House from its original site, to rescue it from demolition, the practicalities of such a venture, and the responsibility of the Trust for the future of the building.
 

Looking	Mal Fryer surveying
Drawing upstairs	Drawing downstairs

 

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Medieval Music for Midsummer

Sunday 21st June, 2009

Musician: Richard York

Richard York playing the hurdy-gurdy

We eased ourselves into a receptive mood with a buffet of food that would have been available during the medieval period.

This was followed by Richard York’s musical exposition of the origin and development of musical instruments; the harp, bagpipes, shawm and others that might have been played in The Old Medicine House. The fabric of the building with its timber-frame walls and tiled floor created a unique acoustic, enhancing the sound of this music.

Richard introduced us to sounds of the medieval world: the everyday tunes heard in markets and workplaces, music for dances and for celebrations, with such infectious enthusiasm that we ended the afternoon joining in the music making.

Our visitors found that ‘the whole talk / demonstration was extremely well presented and interesting (although I doubt whether our contributions added much to the communal efforts!)’ They enjoyed ‘a wonderful course’, ‘an excellent lunch beforehand and tea and cake afterwards, which completed the occasion in an ideal way.’

Making melodious music

Making loud music

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The Blackden Trust at
The Manchester Grammar School Junior Department

Thursday 4th June, 2009

Tutor: Tom Hughes

Helping to create a timeline

We asked the boys who attended the course to send us their thoughts on the day.

The Thoughts of some Year 6 MGS Junior Section Boys.

On 4th June Griselda Garner and Tom Hughes came to visit us from The Blackden Trust. This is situated near the Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank and the house and land holds many secrets of long ago.

The first part of the talk gave us an opportunity to study a history timeline and artefacts associated with the different periods. We made lots of mistakes along the way but with some questioning and clues we managed to put everything in the correct place. Artefacts such as pots, hold many clues, for example if they're glazed then they're from a later period. Everything had a special story from the Tig cup with its three handles to stop you eating and drinking at the same time to the tankard with its flat bottom to stop it falling over. We loved dressing up in a variety of hats from different periods - the metal helmet was really heavy!

Considering the evidence

In the second part of the talk we discussed Anglo Saxon Burials. Frank had to lie down and pretend to be dead. We surrounded him with objects needed for his afterlife such as armour, weapons and food.

Then we imagined what would be left when the burial site was discovered years later. Everything that came from something living would disappear including Frank's flesh! It was really interesting to see what would be left.

It was fascinating and great fun. Thank you.

Two competitions were left with the boys to complete in their own time. The results will be published on the website in November.

 

The timeline of hats and pots completed	Depositing grave goods for the Saxon warrior in his afterlife
Casting the runes at the Saxon funeral celebrations	Recreating a Saxon burial site

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Tudor Herbs and Spices: Folklore, Wisdom and Medicine

Saturday 23rd May, 2009

Tutor: Sue Hughes

Discussing the uses of herbs in Tudor medicine

Sue Hughes set us going with a talk on the history and development of herbal medicine, and on the influence of John Gerard, the sixteenth century herbalist from Nantwich, who wrote the General Historie of Plants, which is a detailed description of plants and their uses and the folklore associated with them.  We heard about the uses of herbs and spices in the 16th century, for strewing, for dyes, in cooking, in medicines and in folklore.

Sue showed us various dried herbs and herbalist’s equipment, and we made our own herb bags.  We also tasted griddle breads, spinach flan, spice cake, jumbles, apple mouse, and ginger bread; all made by Sue using traditional Tudor recipes.

Tasting Tudor recipes

When the Old Medicine House, was moved to Blackden from Wrinehill, wildflower and herb seeds that had been in cracks in the beams fell to the ground, sprouted and established themselves around the house.  Because there were no obvious remains of the herb garden around the Tudor apothecary’s house on its original site, we felt free to create of one of our own.  So we examined the herb plants that would have been grown in the sixteenth century, laid out a design and planted the herbs in front of the Old Medicine House.

It was a varied and fascinating day, and one that added a new facet to the resources of the Trust.

Our visitors enjoyed ‘the lovely friendly atmosphere’, ‘the Tudor food’, ‘the history of herbs and the planting,’ ‘the access to this magical historical house, with its quite exceptional ambience, and its connection to Cheshire’s past and prehistory.’

‘The whole day was magic. I haven’t enjoyed myself so much for years.’

Examining the herb plants

Planting the herbs

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Pilgrimage, Potions and Protection

Thursday 7th May, 2009

Tutors: Tom Hughes, Sue Hughes,
Dr Melanie Giles, Professor Mark Edmonds

Arriving

Guided by Tom Hughes and Mark Edmonds, twenty-six Manchester Grammar School Year 8 boys walked a mile along the farm track from the Red Lion Inn, in Goostrey, to The Blacken Trust. They considered the landscape, identifying and discussing what was significant as they walked; a physical experience taking them back in time and setting the pattern of the day.

It was a day of questions provoked by examining artefacts found on the site and in the surrounding fields. The boys studied sherds of pottery, working out what the complete pot might have been. They puzzled over unfamiliar objects, identifying what they were and how they might have been used.

Sue Hughes introduced the boys to some of the medical theories of the sixteenth century and the importance of herbs and spices in all aspects of life at the time; in cooking, in dyes, and for strewing to deter insects and sweeten the smell of the house, as well as in medicine. The boys chose herbs and spices to make their own individually scented tussie mussies.

After a brief introduction to timber-framing, Mark Edmonds and Melanie Giles led a discussion on the different ways archaeology could be interpreted. The day ended with an invitation to the boys to send us their impressions of what they had discovered during their visit.

Demonstrating a Tudor water sprinkler	Discussing timber-framing
Selecting herbs and spices	Studying sherds of pottery

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Witness to a Century

Saturday 4th April, 2009

Tutor: Professor Richard Morris

Students studying aerial photographs of different parts of Britain

Richard Morris gave us a brief history of photo interpretation; showing us how the first manned balloon flights in the later 18th century led to the first aerial photographs in the 19th century, and how aerial imaging was developed as a tool of war, and was then harnessed to history, planning, and environmentalism.

He then revealed the historical power of air photography, by distributing images of different parts of Britain, taken at different times in the last hundred years. We were shown how features on and beneath the ground could be seen under different conditions of light, weather, climate, time, and agricultural regime, and we were encouraged to interpret what we saw.

Aerial photographs of Oxford and Sunderland in the 1940s were compared for signs of the effects of war. With our newly educated eyes, we could clearly see that Sunderland was extensively bombed during World War II, but Oxford was not, and how the relative wealth and occupations of the inhabitants of the two cities could be deduced from the pattern of the buildings.

We looked at a series of aerial photographs of Alderley Edge and considered agricultural contrasts between the 1940s and 2009, the effects on the population of the 1945 Attlee Government, social housing, and the Cold War.

The day ended closer to home, over Blackden, where field boundaries mapped in the 18th century, but now invisible on the ground can still be seen as crop marks from the air.

The course taught us skills that we can now apply to aerial views with greater confidence, and maybe even discover hidden features in our own areas.

Aerial photograph of Blackden showing crop marks of field boundaries

Detail from Plan and Survey Book of Heawood Demesne 1789

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2008

Geology and Landscape

Saturday 1st November, 2008

Tutors: Dr Mark Roberts

Mark explaining the formation of the marl pits

This last course of the 2008 season completed the circle started in April.  During the day we learnt how the artefacts we had gathered during our field walking six months ago related to both the surface topography and the underlying geology.

With reference to maps and diagrams Mark Roberts demonstrated the 170 million year unconformity between the surface of the Triassic Mercia Mudstone Group and the overlying Late Pleistocene sediments.  Potentially, 1.5km of Mesozoic and Cainozoic sediments have been removed by glacial action over the past 800,000 years.  The group discussed the geology of the region, from the Late Silurian to the present day, discussing topics such as: plate tectonics, including the latitudinal position of England at various places on the geological timescale; the Variscan Orogeny and the formation of the Pennines; the infilling of the Cheshire Basin; Triassic deserts and the Cheshire salt deposits; and finally the Devensian Glacial and interstadial sediments.

Time travellers return to The Old Medicine House

As we walked up the hill on the opposite side of the valley, along Blackden Brook, through the marl pits, across fields and back to The Old Medicine House, Mark pointed out features, such as boulder clay and fluvioglacial gravel surfaces, together with evidence provided by the local drainage for rapid downcutting and proglacial outwash; which he had earlier shown us on geological and topographic maps.  On our perambulation, the group also spent time discussing and thinking about human subsistence in the myriad of potential environments that would have been encountered in this part of Cheshire, during the course of the Pleistocene.  We ended the day with an assessment of what we had seen and how profoundly the geology of a place affects all subsequent occupation of the land.

Other researchers in the group broadened the debate with a discussion on the effect of economic geology on the human population of the region, from the Palaeolithic to the twenty-first century; concentrating on resources such as salt deposits, gravel extraction, and the mineral veins of Alderley Edge and the south Pennines.  So the young participants, preparing to study archaeology at university, had an illuminating and entertaining preview of a largely ignored part of the discipline.  An apt ending to this season of events.

(Terrible pun. The Aptian is a Stage in the Lower Cretaceous Period.  MR) 

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The Civil War

Saturday 13th September, 2008
10.00 am – 4.00pm

Tutors: Professor Ronald Hutton, Professor Richard Morris

Demonstrating the positions of 17th century musket ball impacts on the tower of St Luke's Church, Holmes Chapel

Ronald Hutton started the day with a seminar on the English Civil War, during which he introduced us to some of the subtleties that lie under the commonly held knowledge of the period: how families were not only divided, but how, in some, members also changed sides as the war progressed; how the war was not so much decisively won, as that an error of judgment on Prince Rupert’s part tipped the balance; and how everybody was bankrupted by the demands of the armies of both sides. It was, said Ronald, the most cruel war in our history.

Richard Morris showed us a map of the Battle of Naseby where finds of muskets ball had been plotted and we discussed what the map might represent: how it showed that the supposed total rout of the Royal army at the Battle of Naseby was not a rout but a series of stands as it retreated before it finally fled. The mapping also showed the importance of the responsible use of metal detectors. Instead of becoming mere ‘finds’ in a collection, the objects, such as musket balls and parts of weapons, were used to plot the pattern of movement in the battle, which revealed how the two sides continually engaged, moved, regrouped and how the Royalists lost heart and were pursued.

Similarly, Richard used photographs to invite us to suggest the meaning of the pattern of musket ball scars on the tower of Holmes Chapel church. He showed how several pieces of shot could have been fired from one musket, and the suggestion from the patterning was that there could have been a series of executions carried out at the base of the wall. Ronald was not convinced.

Richard Morris and Ronald Hutton disputing

We became a part of the conversation that developed between Ronald and Richard, where they were exchanging information that expanded their knowledge of the period.

In the afternoon we examined wills and probate inventories of people living in Blackden during the period of the Civil War, including two for Toad Hall dated 1644 and 1664, and tried to answer some of the research questions that the Trust is interested in. Again, the cross referencing between Ronald and Richard illuminated our research, as Ronald showed us that the will of Jonathan Eaton, written in1644, started with the preamble of a severe Puritan. He added that Cheshire is a ‘wonderful place’ for the study of the Civil War.

Reading 17th century wills from Blackden and assessing whether the artefacts of the Civil War period found on the site could be among those mentioned in the inventories

It was a day that revealed the extent to which history and archaeology are intimately intertwined, but it was also a day of university level intellectual exchange. It was a privilege to be present at such an exciting conjunction of experts.

The map of the Battle of Naseby can be found at http://www.battlefieldstrust.com/media/367.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

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Sermons in Stones
Making and interpreting stone tools

Saturday 6th September, 2008
10.00 am – 4.00 pm

Tutor: Professor Mark Edmonds

Mark Edmonds advises on the knapping of a hand axe

Mark Edmonds introduced us to the ancient art of flint knapping by showing us a wide variety of prehistoric stone tools, which we examined as he explained how they could be dated and how they were made. Starting with large nodules of flint, he demonstrated how the flint should be struck, to produce the tools we had examined.

Inspired by the apparent ease with which he knapped flint to produce hand axes and scrapers and blades, we used stones and antlers as hammers, and with help from Mark, hand axes of our own began to emerge.

As we gained confidence the sound of stone and antler striking flint developed a rhythm; a sound that would last have been heard on the site three thousand years ago. Flint found in the garden includes waste flakes, so similar to the flakes we were producing that we had to take great care to collect the modern flakes and dispose of them off the site to avoid confusing the archaeology.

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A Gathering of Friends and Fellows

Saturday 23rd August, 2008

One of the Fellows carving venison	Friends and the founding committee of the Friends of The Blackden Trust gathered for an informal buffet supper. Richard Morris thanked them, outlined plans, and invited more ideas. Small groups formed, so that the evening was both a celebration of what had been achieved, and a hatchery for the future.
	Hatching plans

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Archaeological investigation

Saturday 23rd – Monday 25th August, 2008

Archaeologists: Professor Richard Morris, Dawn Parry, Dr Mark Roberts

A cache of hand-rolled marbles found hidden under a floorboard of The Old Medicine House

Dawn, Mark and Richard met at Toad Hall to review recent scientific reports on pollen and bone, and to plan a programme for the assessment, study and interpretation of the ceramic, lithic and other assemblages that have built up over the last forty years.

In parallel, they began an audit of the archaeological archive from The Old Medicine House. They identified steps needed to bring the entire collection up to a consistent standard, and will return to do this work in December 2008.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Finds processing and cataloguing day

Tuesday 29th July, 2008
10.00 am – 4.00 pm

Archaeologists: Dr David Barker, Dr Melanie Giles, Tom Hughes, Dawn Parry

Pottery sherds from Grid Square A5

The artefacts found during field walking on 5th April and 1st July were recorded and a start was made on the analysis of the pottery. Some sixth formers joined us and were guided through the technique of recording pottery by David Barker. There is more recording to be done before we can fully assess the significance of the finds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Holmes Chapel Comprehensive Summer School
The World of Wotsits
An Introduction to Archaeology

Tuesday 22nd July, 2008
10.00 am – 3.00 pm

Tutors: Tom Hughes and Dawn Parry
Supporting adults: Griselda Garner, Dougald Hine, Susan Hughes, Dr David Kay

Considering the significance of the Saxon roundshaft

All year 8 students attending the Holmes Chapel Comprehensive Summer School chose to attend our archaeology course.

We encourage students to observe, question anomalies and deduce possible explanations; all skills that are essential in any discipline. So the day started with the students going round the garden placing flags by anything that puzzled them or that they found intriguing. Among the questions they asked were those about the structure of the timber-frame houses, the masonry lying in the grass, the crumbling pig cote, the comparative age of the buildings, the Saxon round shaft and the labyrinth. We then discussed each query, encouraging the students to work out an interpretation for themselves. Some lively interchanges developed between us all.

The questioning continued when the students handled artefacts found on the site, and carried on when pottery was washed and then identified.

Identifying artefacts from Blackden

The last anomaly to be resolved was the comparative age of the buildings. The students walked along the track that leads into the garden, comparing the landscape and layout of the buildings today with what was depicted on the map of 1789. The observant student who raised the question at the start of the day was proved to be right by a map that is over two hundred years old.

The students enjoyed the hands on activities, particularly the pot washing and identification, and also the handling and questioning of the artefacts.

We all had a lively and informative day.

 

 

 

 

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National Archaeological Week event
Pottery Day

Saturday 19th July, 2008
12.30 pm – 4.30 pm

Archaeologist: Dr David Barker
Potter: John Hudson

David Barker identifying pottery sherds found by members of the Bury Archaeological Group

The event was held in a polytunnel at Hassal Free Nurseries at the back of the Red Lion pub in Goostrey: a light and dry venue that protected us from the wind and the rain.

Members of archaeological clubs and adults, curious to know more about the pottery that they had found in their gardens, consulted Dr David Barker, who identified the date and vessel that the fragments had come from.

He also gave an illustrated talk on the history of the use and development of ceramics and their importance to archaeology that included slides of the pottery sherds found during the field walking at Bridge Farm on 1st April 2008. Some slides showed images of the complete vessels represented by the sherds, giving us a visual concept of the pottery used by the people of Blackden in the past. This was an example of how the research undertaken by The Blackden Trust has increased the knowledge of the history of the local area. This talk by David Barker made the results of some of our recent research available to the public.

John Hudson demonstrating the art of the potter

Children, some of whom had dragged their parents to the event, used their imaginations to design plates from images of fragments of pottery and practised reconstructing broken vessels by reassembling cardboard sherds to make complete plates.

All were entertained and enlightened by John Hudson’s exposition of the ancient art of the potter. One adult visitor told us that John’s demonstration of pottery making techniques had transformed her appreciation of pottery, and all the children carried away the small pots that they watched John making for them, with a care that showed an awareness of the uniqueness of their pot.

It was a vibrant afternoon of varied events that entertained and informed all those who attended.

John Hudson and his pots

A young visitor receiving his pot

 

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Celebration Day

Tuesday 1st July, 2008
10.00 am – 3.00 pm

Archaeologists: Dawn Parry and Tom Hughes
Teacher Support: Griselda Garner, Jill Gover, Katia Murta;
Antonella Novarina; Carol Ray

Our Celebration Day is one of a series of events that the Trust organises for students who have previously attended courses and who would like to come back to learn more. The students are invited via their schools, but the decision to attend is theirs.

On 1st July twelve students aged from eleven to fourteen, from four schools came to the Celebration Day. During the morning they furthered the research of the Trust by continuing the field walking that was started on 5th April. To get to the field, they walked from the garden of Toad Hall and The Old Medicine House, through a cornfield, along tractor tracks that followed a hedge line shown on the earliest map we have of the area. This map of 1789 can be found on the Site map page of this website. The field we were walking is just behind Robert Dean’s house on the map.

Walking through the cornfield along the hedge line between fields A4 and A5 shown on the detail of the map alongside this photograph

Detail from Plan and Survey Book of Heawood Desmesne 1789

We returned along the same route to wash the pottery sherds that we had found, and, amongst them, was one that could have been from a pot used by Robert Dean himself.

Students using The Blackden Trust type series database to sort their own collections of pottery sherds

In the afternoon most of the students chose to create a piece of art work based on the most interesting find from their grid square. One student had been so inspired by his first visit here last summer that during the intervening year he had picked up pottery on his grandfather’s farm. He arrived with his collection, which he wanted to date and identify using the type series database that he knew was here. He spent the afternoon sorting his collection and left with most of it in dated bags.

The day was a vindication of our aims to include our visitors in practical activities that add to the knowledge of the area, and to encourage them to develop skills that can be applied elsewhere. We also saw how the students enjoyed the advice and expertise of our tutors. There was an atmosphere of continuity of purpose within a community.

As one of our volunteers observed, the children were so comfortable at Blackden and relaxed. It was wonderful day for all of us.

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Conducted Tour

Timber-frame houses on an ancient site

Alderley Edge History Group

Saturday 7th and Saturday 14th June, 2008

A demonstration of a mortice and tenon joint

Visitors were brought up to date on the history of the site and saw the artefacts found in Blackden, which date from the Mesolithic to the twentieth century. They were shown the archaeological features in the garden and saw the remaining external timber-frame wall of Toad Hall.

They were given an introduction to the construction of timber-frame buildings, and were taken on a guided tour round The Old Medicine House, during which they saw the details that make it unique, including the timber-frame chimney with its beef box and the protective marks on its timbers.

 

 

 

 

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Pots and Pans
Archaeology in the Classroom at Mossley County Primary School

Tuesday 10th June, 2008

Tutors: Dawn Parry and Tom Hughes

Placing goods in the grave of a Saxon warrior

Year 6 students at Mossley Primary School were introduced to some of the principles and techniques of archaeology.

After a presentation about the work of The Blackden Trust by Dawn Parry, the students created a living timeline, which related the historical periods that they had studied to images of archaeological artefacts of those times. Tom Hughes outlined the historical development of drinking vessels. Students then assessed the correct period of replica vessels and placed them in the appropriate place on the timeline.

Directed by Dawn Parry, they continued to develop their assessment skills with a simulated excavation of a box of stratified artefacts, which they dated and placed in correct chronological order.

In the afternoon, the students dramatised a Saxon burial, by placing replica grave goods, relevant to a warrior and farmer, around him. Invoking the atmosphere of an early Saxon funeral, Tom Hughes told the story of Saint Werburgh and challenged the students with some Saxon riddles. Students blew a horn to end the ceremony.

They then reverted to archaeology students and identified which parts of the deposited goods would decay. These were removed and the students were encouraged to consider how we have been able to reconstruct those parts that had decayed, and what we might be able to deduce from the grave itself. The confidence with which they engaged in this exercise was a testament to the skills that they had developed during the day.

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Conducted Tour

Timber-frame houses on an ancient site

Alderley Edge History Group

Saturday 7th June, 2008

So many members of the Alderley History Group signed up for a visit to The Blackden Trust that we organised two visits on consecutive Saturdays.  Please look at the report for 14th June which covers both visits.

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Bronze Age cremation sorting

Saturday 31st May, 2008

Archaeologist: Dawn Parry

Students sorting the Bronze Age cremation

In 1971, when the foundations of the link between the Old Medicine House and Toad Hall were being built, a Bronze Age cremation was found at the base of the mound on which Toad Hall stands.

As part of our research we invited MA students from The University of Manchester and 6th Form students who had attended earlier courses to help explore the contents of the cremation.

Dawn Parry demonstrated the technique, which is meticulous and time-consuming. We had assumed that the unsorted collection of cremated bone, charcoal and earth represented an un-urned burial. However, the students identified crumbs of pottery, suggesting that the cremation had originally been placed in an urn. Another sample of the cremation is in the process of being dated by radiocarbon analysis.

All the students felt that they had learnt skills that would be useful in their future careers.

 

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Young Archaeologists’ Club - The Manchester Branch

Saturday 17th May, 2008

Archaeologist: Dawn Parry

Young archaeologists studying Blackden finds

Twenty young archaeologists, aged seven to sixteen, visited us. The younger members came in the morning and explored the garden, looking for unusual aspects of the house and site. Moles had been active the night before and the young archaeologists were intrigued to find several sherds of pottery lying on the soil that the moles had excavated. They washed and dated the sherds, using the type series of pottery that we have established.

The older members, who came on the afternoon, were impressively observant, generating discussions about the structure of the timber-frame houses and the artefacts in the house and garden. They, too, washed and dated pottery previously found in the garden and surrounding fields. Such initial sorting frequently identifies unusual artefacts, as it did on Saturday. The young archaeologists left wanting to know more, particularly about the history of the house and of the people who lived here. We hope that this will be the first of many visits.

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Herbs in the Sixteenth Century:
Folklore, Wisdom and Medicine

Saturday 3rd May, 2008
10.00 am – 1.00 pm
Herb Garden design
2.00 – 3.30

Tutor: Susan Hughes

Examining the herbs and replicas of some of the equipment used to process them in the sixteenth century

The day started with an examination of the artefacts found in the area, followed by a tour of The Old Medicine House and garden. We also heard how, in the spring of 1971, after The Old Medicine House was re-erected at Blackden, wildflowers and medicinal herbs, appeared around the house. Alan and Griselda Garner found the same species growing at the original site of the house at Wrinehill, so we think that seeds had been transported in the cracks of the timbers of the house.

Susan Hughes gave an illustrated talk about the medical beliefs of the sixteenth century, and the extensive use of herbs to treat ailments to, prevent infection, alleviate the unpleasant odours that came from lack of proper sanitation, and dye fabrics. She talked about how the use of herbs was passed down in folklore and superstition and we discussed how some of these ideas still survive today.

The house was permeated by the wonderful smell of herbs that Susan had brought with her along with replicas of the some of the equipment used in Tudor times to process herbs. We made our own tussie mussies, small sachets of aromatic herbs, from the wide selection she had brought.

In the afternoon, we talked and sketched several ideas for the layout of the herb garden that we shall create in front of The Old Medicine House.

It was a most interesting and fragrant day.

Susan and her husband, Tom, can be found at www.pilgrimsandposies.co.uk.

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The Pottery of Blackden
Understanding Archaeological Ceramics

Saturday 26th April, 2008
10.00 am – 4.00 pm

Archaeologist: Dr David Barker

Analysing pottery sherds from Bridge Farm

A small group joined a seminar run by David Barker, whose exposition of the history of the development of post-medieval ceramics was illustrated by images from his extensive collection of photographs. David expanded his answers to participants’ questions with yet more images, and questions led to discussions about how objects made, used and discarded by people in the past are key to most archaeological research; how archaeologists rely upon a wide range of different kinds of finds to reach interpretations; how archaeology can affect historical understanding and how art, architecture and costume are interrelated.

We examined numerous sherds of different dates and types found in the area of Blackden, and, guided by David Barker, we used the knowledge we had gained to analyse the pottery found in several of the grids during the field walking at Bridge Farm on 5th April.

We all felt that what we had learnt during this one day would have a lasting influence on our understanding of the past.

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Field walking day at Bridge Farm

Saturday 5th April, 2008
11.00 am – 4.00 pm

Archaeologists: Professor Richard Morris, Dr David Barker, Dawn Parry, Fiona Sharpley

David Barker talking to the field walkers

Forty adults and children took part in a field walking day at Bridge Farm. This activity was part of the research being undertaken by the Trust into the social history of the area.

Richard Morris started the event with a talk about the archaeological procedure and techniques that we would be employing, and Dawn Parry supervised the practical details, making sure that walkers did not stray out of their allotted 10 metre squares.

The walkers brought their finds back to the shippon at Bridge Farm, where, directed by Fiona Sharpley, some of them sorted and washed the pottery and placed the sherds in the appropriately numbered trays, ready for identification by David Barker. Despite the long day and the cold conditions all the participants were as concentrated during David Barker’s clear exposition on the history of the use of pottery in the area as they had been at the beginning of the day.

We shall follow up this event with Pottery Day on 26th April, when David Barker will guide us through the identification and recording of the pottery we found.

© The Blackden Trust 2009     Updated: 11/03/2010

The Blackden Trust is a registered charity no. 1115818