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This is the title of our next project on the Rectory site which will involve pupils and students from schools and colleges in the area.
We have selected and cleared two sites which we will prepare over the summer months ready for the new term in September. To help us carry out the project we have been awarded a 'Care in the Community' grant of £1300.
Rachel Orme from Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust, who helped in securing the award, says she is as excited as we are at the prospect of discovering the old road (and perhaps even the ancient moat which once surrounded the hall). Eric Walter has also now had his meeting with the Council's tree preservation guy, Alan Smallshaw, and has got the go ahead to dig in the areas where we have planned. There are, however, a couple of restrictions; we must preserve roots above 2.5cm (1 inch) and also there is evidence of badger setts on the second site. If they are found to be still in residence we must stop the dig and contact the Council's wildlife officer.
For those interested we will be announcing the next site visit at the meeting on Wednesday.
Presbytery Garden
 After nearly eighteen months this project is eventually nearing completion. This may seem long for a site so small but it must be remembered that access to the site has only been for a couple of hours a week (on Monday mornings).
The main feature discovered here (as reported in April 2008) is this 17th/18th century stone-capped culvert. It can now be confirmed that it enters the site at one end and carries on under the wall toward the main road at the other end. Culverts like this one are not that uncommon (we found one at Brimelow Farm in 1989). However, why it was there or why the garden is the strange triangular shape it is, is still unclear. The garden, which is located off Ince Green Lane in Higher Ince, is shown on the 6" OS map of 1849, in its present shape and with a building on the south west corner (on the site of the current Presbytery).
On later maps, the lane shown going round the back of the garden has a complete row of terraced cottages on it. John Brookes, who was brought up in the area, remembers property in this lane and thinks the lane was there to give access to the field where St Williams RC school (and later the Church) was built.
Headless Bodies
A 2,000-year-old war grave crammed with up to 50 decapitated corpses has been uncovered near Maiden Castle in Dorset.
This gruesome discovery was made by workers digging the new Weymouth Relief Road. Experts from Oxford Archaeology believe it is likely to shed fresh light on the brutal invasion of the Roman legions under Vespasian in 43AD. Maiden Castle is Europe's largest Iron Age hill fort where Celtic tribesmen are said to have staged a last stand against Roman army. Dave Score, project manager for Oxford Archaeology said it was a 'remarkable and exciting' discovery. So far they have counted 45 skulls in one section of a six metre pit, and several torsos and leg bones in separate other sections of the pit.
In the 1930s, Mr Wheeler undertook the first archaeological excavations at Maiden Castle. He discovered a total of 14 bodies near the entrance with many showing signs of a violent death. He interpreted this as being the remains of the defenders after the successful siege by the Roman army.
It's not clear whether these new bodies are Celtic or Roman but analysis by the team from Oxford will hopefully add more detail to this vital period in British history.
Next Meeting
Wednesday 1st July - District Scout HQ (Baden Powell Centre) in Greenough Street, starting at 7.30 pm as usual. It's my turn this month and I will be presenting a talk on Ancient Rome. Last summer my wife and I visited the Eternal City 26 years after our first visit. At that time our Society was newly formed and I was asked to do a talk on our trip. On Wednesday I will be giving more or less the same presentation but this time, hopefully, I will know a bit more of what I'm talking about.
Hope to see you there B.A.
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