Great turn out for our summer trip this year which everybody body seemed to enjoy (helped no doubt in part by the fine weather. You can see all the details about it here
Trip to Ribchester, Whalley Abbey and Bleasdale Circle
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Author Archives: Bill Aldridge
GM Festival of Archaeology (& Brimelow Farm Open Day)
The weekend Festival and Open Day was a great success with a good number of volunteers and many visitors over the two-day event. Friday volunteer numbers were down (probably as it’s a weekday) but, on Saturday, we were oversubscribed.
Saturday’s volunteers and crew. Left to right: Chon, Tracey, Al, Darren, Alex, Vanessa, Bill, Patrick, Andy and Mark. Front row: Lily, Indiana (Bones) the dog and Lucas.
Throughout the two days we had a constant stream of visitors, particularly from the local residence who were keen to have a look at the Roman road we had discovered on their door step (encourage to have a look by Trevor acting as gatekeeper). It was particularly pleasing to see David Ratledge who hasn’t been too well recently – his Gazetteer of Roman Roads in Lancashire is quite comprehensive (and he’s currently working on roads in Cheshire – we all wish him well on this project).
Friday’s contingent: Left to right Patrick, Andy, Dave North, Mark, Dave Flanagan and Tony Boylan
Much Progress was made on searching for the Roman road between Wigan and Walton-le-Dale and you can see the details of our work here.
Norton Priory Trip
Great day out last Saturday despite the reduced numbers. It was the open day for the archaeological excavations which are being run by Liverpool University as training site undergraduates. More details here
Landgate Excavation Open Day
Despite the wet weather last month’s Open Day was a great success with a good number of visitors throughout the day. There was also some emotion for one or two of the locals on seeing the road for the first time, knowing of its existence over the years – and, reminiscent of scenes from the Life of Brian, souvenirs stones from the site were going like hot cakes. More details here
St Wilfrid’s Historical Graffitti Survey
Great turn out last Saturday for our Historical Graffiti survey of St Wilfrid’s Parish Church Standish. It was a great success and dozens and dozens of marks were discovered. 
The Church was built in the late 16th century and is the only Grade 1 Listed building in the Wigan Borough. You can see more details of our surveying activity here.
March Meeting
Wednesday 7th March. Talk on Bolton’s Egypt – Yesterday – Today – Tomorrow by Ian Trumble. There will also be information about this Saturday’s Historic Graffiti project at St Wilfred’s Standish and also volunteering for excavations on the Bryn Roman road site in the coming weeks (contact the Society for more info).
Healey Nab Trip
Last Sunday, despite the wind and rain, three brave members of our Society (plus Debbie the dog) ventured up on Heapey Fold Lane to see if they could find where Chorley Society excavated in the early 1960’s. Overlooking the Anglezarke reservoirs, this track is thought by many to be the Roman road to Ribchester (you can see more details of the trip here…).
December Meeting
Just a reminder it’s quiz night tonight in the Brocket – in the Standish Suite starting around 8.00pm. Hope to see you then BA (btw latest newsletter is on line here – http://www.wiganarchsoc.co.uk/content/News_Letters/news208.htm ).
More Toddington Lane Activity
Just when we though we had finished our work on this site more features turn up (see the details here).
October Meeting
Wednesday 4th October. John Pendlebury was an egyptologist, archaeologist and war hero. While fighting in Crete in the Second World War, he was captured by the Germans and legend has it that he was executed as a spy. He was born in London but his father was a Wiganer, the son of the owner of the famous Pendleburys department store on Standishgate. John worked for many years in Egypt at Amarna and Knossos in Crete where he enlisted when war broke out. John Johnson has been researching his fascinating life story and I’m sure his talk will be very interesting.