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In March 2004 I reported on a possible Viking boat burial found by metal detectorists in Yorkshire (Newsletter No.71). At the time it was considered a very significant find but the site was being kept a lose secret to avoid being raided by other detectorists (it was even given the code name Ainsbrook to hide its identity). In January Time Team ran a special which they had previously shown documenting the events after archaeologist had been called in. As it turned out that there was no boat burial and although thousands of artefacts had been found, the true nature of the site was never established. What was fascinating however was the relationship between the detectorists and the archaeologists (a team from York Archaeological Trust), neither of whom came out of it very well. It was obvious that the detectorists were just treasure hunters, who had been plundering the site for many years, finding and selling thousands of artefacts without any effort to report them. It seems they had only (reluctantly) contacted the archaeologist when then they happened upon three coins which had potentially a much higher value. The archaeologists on the other hand failed to find anything of the site’s Viking history, as they were totally distracted by prehistoric features which presented themselves in other parts of the field. They also managed to alienate the detectorists by not listening to their suggestions where to dig. What little faith the detectorists had had in the Treasure Act was also lost when the evaluation of the 3 coins came back well under their estimate (having sold many coins in the past they had a view that they had a better knowledge of the market). I started watching the programme with high hopes that the early scepticism of the detectorists would be dispelled and good relations develop between them and the professionals. Sadly, however, this was not the case and mistrust on both sides prevailed. Maybe with a little more understanding by the archaeologist and a little more honesty from the detectorists, the results in many ways could have been completely different.
Potential site in Hindley
Just before Christmas Eddie Ramsdale from Hindley contacted me with information about a field he had seen being ploughed a number of years ago, which had turned up quite a number of large stone blocks. Eddie knew we have been looking for the Roman Road in this area and was therefore wondering if these blocks (some 6 inches square) could be anything to do with it. Last month, therefore, Eddie took me to the site which is near Burrow’s Farm on the north side of Wigan Road (near the old Lancashire Union Railway embankment). There is nothing now to be seen in the field as it is grassed over and used for grazing horses; however I’m fairly sure that this is not the Roman road as it is too far north from our projected line. However there is nothing on the early maps to suggest what else Eddie’s feature could be. It does, therefore, require further investigation and a word with the farmer would suggest this would be quite possible in the near future.
Programme for 2009
- March Roman Walton-le-Dale - Peter Iles
- April Excavations at Whalley Abbey - Nigel Neil
- May Ancient Formby Beach - Ann Worsley
- June Prehistoric Star Carr - Ian Trumble
- July Fora and Fana of Ancient Rome - BA
- Aug Summer Trip - TBA
- Sept North West in the Iron Age - Alastair Vannan
- Oct Viking Hoard - Robert Philpot
- Nov Roman Scotland - David Wooliscroft
- Dec OAN update - Ian Miller
Next Meeting
Wednesday 4th March - District Scout HQ (Baden Powell Centre) in Greenough Street as usual, starting at 7.30 pm. This month we have Peter Iles who is Specialist Advisor at the Lancashire County Archaeology Service. His talk will be on the excavations which have taken place over the years on the Roman settlement site at Walton-le-Dale. The last work completed here was in 1997 (see Newsletter No.4) when a nice section of Roman Road was uncovered (this was the same road that passed through Wigan on its way to Warrington and Cheshire). The report on these excavations, for various reasons, has not been published so this is a great opportunity to remind us of what was found.
Hope to see you there B.A.
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