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Earlier this year Tom Glover and John Barker spent some time looking into the
possibilities of receiving funding for the society, from either the national Lottery or
the local Community Chest. The latter seemed more hopeful as the amounts we were
looking for were not too large. For qualification, we needed to specify a project or
equipment for which the money could be spent. The most promising item we could
identify was a resistivity meter of the type used by Channel 4’s Time Team.
These meters are very useful to the archaeological prospector, as they enable him to
‘see’ below the surface, identifying any form of building activity or road
construction. The society used one on our Roman Road project in the mid eighties
prior to the successful excavations in 1987/88. That particular meter, on loan from
Manchester University, was a ‘Martin-Clark’ type and quite difficult to
use. Over the years, improvements have been made in the design of these meters,
which even include automatic data logging for fast recording and also sophisticated
software for precise interpretation. Prices for the equipment, however, turn out to
be quite steep and possibly beyond the scope of the Community Chest (£2000+).
DIY Resistivity
However all is not lost, this September the Congress of Independent Archaeologist in
Sheffield included a session on ‘Do-it-yourself Geophysics’, which included
details of how to build your own resistivity meter. Tony Gist is the expert and,
although he was unable to attend the session himself, has been able to distribute a lot of
the necessary information through the CIA newsletter and a special web site. This
site is completely dedicated to the subject and includes comments from users all over the
country. As it happens, three years ago an electronics magazine published a project
on how to build a meter, including details of the frame and necessary probe arrays.
Using this information, it is possible to build a meter for less than £100, and some
successful builders have been able to post their experiences onto Tony’s web
site. The question is, do we take the plunge and buy the components necessary to
build our own meter? It is something for us to discuss at the next meeting.
Metal Detecting
Last month a small group from the society went out with metal detectors to
investigate a field to the north of Wigan, on the Standish-Langtree boundary.
Expectations were high, but the results were poor. The oldest thing we found was
some sort of well-used agricultural or iron-working hammer-head, circa 1800/1900 (AD not
BC). The day was enjoyable and better luck may be forthcoming from other sites John
Barker has got lined up for us.
Blacking Mill
Alan Paton from Lanark and District Archaeological Society has replied to my E-mail I
sent about the details of Arley Mill site. This is what Ken Fawell (their mill
surveyor) had to say: From the Clydesdale Mills Survey, which is still ongoing, we have
identified one site at Cleghorn where there are the ruinous remains of a Blacking
Mill. A neighbouring farmer said it was for making boot polish but that is
nonsense. John Shaw’s 'Water Power in Scotland' describes the use of a Blacking
Mill, which was for the crushing of Charcoal to a fine powder, which was then used to dust
moulds in the iron founding industry when it was at its heyday c1820. Carmichael Mill
Foundry would use ground charcoal for that purpose.
It is interesting to note that the site of the Haigh Foundary, famous in the 18th and
19th centuries, is not that far away from our Blacking Mill site (i.e. the Arley Mill)
down the Douglas valley.
Next Meeting
(Wednesday 1st December at the our new venue the BP Centre in Greenough Street at 7.30
pm as usual.) This month’s speaker is our own Eddie Pennington, who will be
giving us a talk on Pompeii. As usual, being the Christmas month, there will be
extra refreshments supplied by Mandy Singleton and Tom Glover.
Hope to see you there - B.A.
P.S. This fell out of my works Christmas party cracker – ‘What’s the
definition of an archaeologist? – A man whose career is in ruins.’
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