Workmen installing services under Tanners Lane in Golborne have come across this remarkable structure. The barrel vaulted structure is made of sandstone blocks and seems to be spanning a culverted stream under the main road. Peter Franzen of the Golborne and Lowton Community Forum believes that the stream flows into Millingford Brook several hundred yards to the south, which in turn flows in to the river Mersey. The bridge is approximately twelve feet wide and the angled buttresses indicate that that it may have been served by a track or road up to sixteen feet wide. The span of the bridge over the stream is approximately ten feet and its overall height is approximately six feet. At some point the bridge has been widened with a brick construction (presumably when the stream was culverted).
As soon as the workmen came across the feature Bob Speight, Bridges Manager at Wigan Council ordered the work to be stopped whilst its details were recorded. The GMAU have been informed and Andy Myers, Assistant County Archaeologist, says this is typical culverting where older bridges (some going back to the Medieval period) had their stonework superstructures reduced and incorporated into the culvert. This may have taken place here when the nearby railway was constructed. It is also likely the culverting helped to serve the needs of Parkside Cotton Mill to the south.
Display Cabinet
On the suggestion from Ian Miller (of Oxford Archaeology North) Modus Properties has agreed to provide us with one of the display cabinets in the Grand Arcade. Therefore last month Mark Tildesley, Brian Parr, Eric Walter and I met up to agree content and arrangement for a display board. Ian said that Modus are keen to promote Wigan’s Roman Heritage so with the small space available we concentrated on our Roman Roads projects, but also found space for a section on the Bathhouse (with Dave Horrocks’ virtual reconstruction as its centrepiece). The board is now on display but if you can’t get down to the Grand Arcade to see it you can always visit our Forum where the details are posted.
History Shop Exhibition
Brian and I also met with Lisa Keys and Rachael Orme last month at the History Shop, for further discussions about the exhibition planned for next year. Brian presented his interpretation of what would be required based on the assumption there would be 7 boards approximately 1 metre square in size. Lisa said that size and number of boards had yet to confirm and also the History Shop would be employing somebody to do the arrangement. All we would needed to do is supply the content. Lisa has since provided us with templates for data collection and recording. Brian has now been given the task of putting all the material together, which he will present to the committee before the next meeting with Lisa in March.
Programme
As usual we are still in the process of putting this together but so far we have 5 speakers starting in March with a talk on the Roman site at Walton-le-Dale (Peters Iles) - then, in April, excavations at Whalley Abbey (Nigel Neil). In May Anne Worsley will be talking about the Ancient Footprints on Formby Beach and in September Alastair Vannan will be telling us about Iron Age North West. Later in the year Robert Philpot has agreed to talk about a Viking hoard he has recently been investigating.
Next Meeting
Wednesday 4th February - District Scout HQ (Baden Powell Centre) in Greenough Street as usual, starting at 7.30 pm. It’s the AGM once again but after the usual formalities Eric Walter will be presenting his Desk-Based Assessment of the Rectory (Wigan Hall) site. This in-depth study was recently presented by Eric to the Parochial Church Council at the Old Blue Coat next to the Parish Church. The presentation was well received, which has since been confirmed in the minutes of the meeting recently received by Tom. A copy of the DBA and the associated Archaeological Project Plan has now been sent to the Liverpool Diocese for their approval and hopefully permission to proceed.
Just to mention that at the AGM there will be a proposal to amend our constitution (just a small one this time). It’s regarding the number of non-committee members required to call an EGM (i.e. reducing it from ten to five). We would also like to take the opportunity to have another look at the cost of our annual subscription compared to the door charge (at the moment, if you add it up, there doesn’t seem to be any advantage in being a member). One last thing – Eric Walter has put himself up for election to the committee.
Hope to see you there B.A.
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