It's really great to be able to get out into the field again - earlier this month our intrepid surveying team (maximum of six) ventured into a field in Apsull to carry out our first resistivity survey of the season. The target was a series of crop marks we were alerted to last year on Google Earth, which are reminiscent of a DMV (Deserted Medieval Village). A circular feature on the west half of the field could even be prehistoric. Aspull isn't noted for its Medieval activity, just a few historical mentions from the 13th and 14th centuries, but there are a few moated sites dating from the Medieval period not far from this site and the crop marks are interesting enough in themselves to warrant further investigation. They appear in both 2012 and 2013 aerial photos which suggests they are likely to represent something more than just agricultural activity. There was a note of caution however, as a more recent aerial photo (this time from Bing Maps) reveals a network of field drains arranged in a typical herringbone pattern. When the crop marks were overlaid, many of the lines seemed to correspond. Even so it was certainly worth checking this out with a resistivity survey.
The field itself lies behind the houses on the east side of Haigh Road and is bordered on east and north side by an old railway line. Looking at the old maps, nothing can be seen going on in the field apart from old field boundaries, one in particular cutting across the bottom right hand corner. We set out our baseline on the southern boundary fence offsetting into the field by 5m.
On the day we managed to complete two scans both 25m x 50m - our first located 65m southeast of the fence line running down the centre of the field and 25m offset into the field from our baseline. Our second scan was located another 25m further into the field but offset 25m to the northwest. This was in the hope of catching one of the strong vertical features running parallel with Haigh Road. The results however, when processed, (see below) were quite disappointing. Apart from the old field boundary, the most prominent feature revealed was the field drainage system and therefore, as suspected, the most likely the cause of the linear features. There are some unexplained anomalies including high resistance at the bottom edge of the scan. It would be worthwhile, with the farmer's permission of course, putting in a test pit or two to investigate these. However perhaps we can discount the idea that this was once the site of a DMV. We still have the circular feature to investigate which we hope to arrange in the near future. You can see more details of our activity on our blog site.
Past Forward
Both Jim Meehan and I have managed to get articles published in the latest edition of this popular magazine (which due to the pandemic, is currently available on-line Past Forward No.87). Jim's contribution is the story of 'The Street That Was'. King Street and the area around it, has been recognised as a High Street Heritage Action Zone (as we reported in Newsletter No.240). It therefore seemed, as Jim says, an ideal time to look back at the street's history and think about how to care for it in the future.
My effort is the story of the Roman statue found in Appley Bridge in the 1930s that subsequently went missing ('What ever happened to Cautopates' is also available on our website). Ken Scally has another take on the story which he admits might not be quite as accurate as mine historically speaking but still a good read ('A Change of Direction for Mithras' can also be found on our website - enjoy).
Next Meeting
Still no live meetings planned but things are beginning to open up again and this week we will be having our first live committee session (our first in over 12 months). The meeting will be held at Real Crafty on Upper Dicconson Street (it used to be the British Legion). It'll also be a test to see if it would be suitable as our new venue once our meetings start up again. Our current venue, Little Fifteens, has its issues, not least the lack of parking. Real Crafty on the other hand, has its own car park and there's plenty street parking nearby. To keep you entertained in the meantime, here is a long but interesting presentation on Oxford Archaeology North's work on a Mesolithic and late Neolithic site in the Skippool Valley on the Fylde (just north of Blackpool) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8fsZ8sYC0c .
Keep safe - BA
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