Wednesday 24th April
Day 10
Eight volunteers on site today – joining Chris and Bill were Andrew, Colin, Peter, Steve Parry and John Needle with Ben Goodburn joining just before lunch.

After Ben Dyson’s visit the previous day, there was a discussion about how to proceed. Chris said he would get some bandages for the work on the urns (and plastic strips which he’d seen used on Youtube). Regarding F12, it was decided to go for the second of Ben’s options i.e. wait for a visit from Malin before removing any of the material from it.

Work continued on expanding the de-turfed area on the SW side of F4 carried out by Chris, Peter, Steve and Andrew. Later rowelling of this area revealed what seemed like modern ploughing ruts in the mottled clay layer.

Bill helped by Peter recorded the complicated section running down the NE side of F4 which he had prepared the day before.

Colin and John worked on removing the rest of the topsoil from the area on the NE side of F4. The mottled clay layer is only about 4cm think in this area, so Bill made them aware of this when trowelling down to it. Later Colin and Steve worked on expanding this de-turfed area all the way to Trench 3c while Andrew finished excavating the test pit under the removed stones (F17).

When Ben arrived he continued working in Trench 6-6a and by the end of the day had completely finished exposing the bedrock floor ready for Bill to record.

Tuesday 23rd April
Day 9
There were just six volunteers on site today – joining Chris and Bill were Christine and Andrew with John Trippier and Peter joining just before lunch. In the afternoon we were joined by Ben Dyson from the Greater Manchester Archaeological Advisory Service and new member George Chapman.

We have been anticipating Ben’s visit for some time as we need his guidance on how to proceed with the removal of our two cremation urns and advice about what to do with our other burials. In preparation for Ben’s visit, we began by removing all the covers and cleaning around the vessels. Chris worked on our first urn (F1) while Andrew worked on the our second urn (F2). Chris was keen to show how the pit the urn was place in could be seen in the section on the west side but not on the east side as the burnt and mottled layers seemed to be going right up to and indeed underneath the urn. Andrew also worked to expose the flat bottomed pit our second urn (F2) seemed to be sitting in.

Bill meanwhile worked on the octagonal feature (F4) cleaning the edges up so that the profile could be clearly seen. He trowelled area around the outside of the the feature bringing out the blackish edge which lines the outside of the orange wall of the feature. He also noticed another black line running a few centimetres away from the feature on the NE side. He speculated whether could represent the original pit which was then refilled to form the shape of the feature before it was lined with the clay. Bill also took some time cleaning the section running down the NE side of the octagonal feature ready for recording. This section, originally looked at last year, was turning out to be very complicated with a deep undulating layer of mottled clay, the higher layer being dark and the lower undulating layer lighter with a whitish tinge. This is as opposed to the opposite side of this trench which demonstrates the standard arrangement of red and black line lying under a relatively thin layer of mottled clay. The transition section (on the NW side of F1) shows that the the red line continues but the black line doesn’t (only to reappear in the section alongside F4.

Christine was given the task of trowelling the newly de-turfed area to the SW of the octagonal feature. When John arrived he joined Christine concentrating on the SE side where the group of stones (F18) had been revealed. When Peter arrived he uncovered the burial pit he had been working on (F12) ready for Ben’s inspection.

Ben arrived at 2.00 in the afternoon and after the introductions, got stuck in to getting himself familiar once again with the site he’d briefly visited last year. This included seeing our recently cleaned up south ditch terminus in Trench 6-6a. Being amazed with its proportions he was, as we are, that this is not typical Bronze Age.

He then went through each of our four burials which have yet to be processed (F1, F2, F4 and F12) talking us through the various options for the removal of the material. He finished of with a look at our suspected cist and, like us, was quite excited about what it could reveal. Chris said he would write a full report on Ben’s thoughts and suggestions and once approved would circulate them around the committee. In the meantime here is a summary:

F1 – excavate the material out of the pit on the NW side. Use a bandage to support the urn as we gradually work our way down. Excavated lower than the pot itself so as to catch any evidence of what it is resting on. Mark the vessels orientation before lifting. The lab at Salford would be only be available till July but he suggested the excavation of the pot’s interior could be done in anybody’s garage or outhouse. This had the advantage of not having to travel to Salford and could be done by an enthusiastic member of our Society in their own time.

F2 – the pit again should be excavated first. As the pot becomes exposed, we should try to support it with bandages (which may not work but worth a try). Any material in side the urn should be kept separate from the material from the pit.

F4 – There had already been more than half of cremated bone and charcoal removed from this feature. There was therefore a general thought that we had gone as far as we could with this feature and should now re-bury it for future generations to investigate. Bill said though that there was still some things we didn’t understand about it such as its depth and how it was supported (thought to be on a large stone). He also thought it important to have a section drawing of it, which could only be done by, at the very least, excavating down the opposite side to that already excavated. Ben agreed and suggested that a careful excavation could be achieved to leave a good portion (i.e. more that half) left in situ.

F12 – Again a good proportion of the cremated bone had already been removed from this burial pit. Ben said there were two options with the removal of the rest of the exposed material. One would be to continue removing the bone perhaps segregating it into sections – the other would be to wait for a visit from Malin, the osteologist from York, who would be able give us her opinion on how to proceed.

Before we left for the day Andrew was asked to remove material from the face of the section to the NW of F4. This had dried out and was about to fall in. Once removed the section revealed how deep the mottled clay layer was in this area and even displaying a second layer of burning.

Thursday 17th April
Day 8
A good turnout today and the weather was also quite pleasant. Joining Chris were Isobel, Ben, Peter, John Trippier, Colin, Christine Morton.

The overall aim of the day was to clean the recently de-turfed areas and continue to expand them. Chris, John and Issy continued to work on the SW side of the octagonal feature (F4) exposing more of the surface of the mottled layer. It is starting to look very interesting now, with large areas of clay, burning and stones showing. Chris and John worked around the area of stones and burning which has become quite confusing and uneven. Issy worked on the area closer to F4. This is a ‘work in progress’ and further de-turfing to the SW will be required. Colin worked on removing the remaining top soil in the area on the NE side of our first urn (F1). Helped by Christine, he then, began to expose the top of the mottled layer. This side looks more like the rest of the site with little burning. Later they began working on the remaining turfs on this side. It is hoped to get a closer look at the NE side of our first urn which has proved difficult to see.

Peter continued to work carefully on the capped pit with the large collection of bones (F12). He managed to clear out the fill from the NW end of the pit and showed that the dense collection of bone does not go as far as the end. There is also evidence of the darker ‘packing’ stones showing here. Later he cleaned the open SE end of the pit to get a clear view of the floor of the pit. It looks similar to the stone layer we found outside the pit.

Ben continued his work in Trench 6/6a which is the terminus of the Ring Ditch on the south side of the entrance. He has nearly completely removed the winter slippage showing a new view of the ditch section. We can now see the floor of the terminus which appears to be unbroken bedrock.

Tuesday 15th April
Day 7
Just four on site today – joining Chris were Isabel, Patrick and Ben.

Chris and Izzy opened up more area to the SW side of the octagonal feature (F4) and then proceeded to clean the surface of the mottled layer. There seem to be interesting patches of burning and stones in this area.  This task will be continued later in the week.

Patrick continued to carefully excavate the area in front of the octagonal feature (F4) so that he could see more clearly the complicated section in front of it. Although there is still a little more work to do, a double red/black burning line could clearly be seen that seemed to touch the side of the clay lined pit. This task will be completed this week.

Ben continued to clean out the ditch terminus in Trench 6 / 6a exposing more of the flat bedrock floor and removing all the debris that had fallen in over the winter.

Saturday 12th April
Day 6
This day was added at short notice to enable our friends from Border Archaeology and Heritage Group (BAHG) in Cheshire to joined us. It also gave the opportunity for some of our regular members to attend. Joining Chris today were Ben, Patrick, John Trippier with Bill joining later – and from the BAHG Phil Cox, Penny, Cathy and Denise German.

The BAHG continued their work on the strange anomaly in Trench 3d outside the main ditch trying to determine if the feature was manmade or natural.

There had been some collapse over winter of the loose material in the side wall of the trench. A decision was made therefore to remove this and more of the loose rock fill inside the feature to see if we could get any more information. With nothing further forthcoming, this feature still remains a mystery.

John worked on a newly exposed area to the SW of the octagonal feature (F4). Last time out Chris had detected a small group of stones in the SE corner embedded in the mottled clay layer. There was also the suggestion of burning and fleck of cremated bone in the area and John was able to open up more of the area, but wasn’t able to detect if the stones were lying in a pit or not (more work to be done – it was labelled F18 just in case).

Chris continued working on the NE side of our first urn (F1) looking for its wall on that side. His work created quite a hole on that side but so far failed to find the wall. This is very strange as the usual stratigraphy, i.e. burnt layer, could still be seen in the section going under the rim of the pot.

Patrick continued with his work on the area to the NW of the octagonal feature, working his way towards it cutting through the soft sandy clay. This revealed very little, however in the section the burning layer could just about be seen rising up under the mottled clay layer.

Ben continued to work in Trench 6 / 6a defining the edges and floor of the ditch. When Bill arrived, he and Chris had a discussion about what he and Ben had discovered. In the original Trench 6 ditch wall there seemed to be a layer of sticky clay which had previously detected when original trench had been dug. Ben Dyson, on his visit to the site had suggested that it was possible that this had been deliberately pressed into the side wall of the ditch either for decretive purposes or to make it watertight (the latter seems unlikely as the ring ditch is located on a sloping hillside). It was great to be be able to see bedrock in Trench 6a as very little if any had been detected before (although it had been in the original Trench 6). Chris was curious to see how far it went towards the terminal side of the ditch (when this had been done in Trenches 5 and 5a, the square ends had been exposed). Bill was unsure whether this would be the case in this trench as he thought the ditch profile had already been established when the fill had been excavated out in previous years. This had revealed a shallow semi-bowl shape with a change of slope about 40cms from the bottom (similar to the arrangement seen in the other terminus, Trench 7). The only way to find out if Chris was right would be to chase the bedrock but that would destroy the profile already established (Bill conceded though that this would have to been done eventual).

Thursday 10th April
Day 5
Bill was unavailable today so Chris was in charge. Joining him were Ben, Steve, Patrick, Colin, Peter and Francesca Usher.

Another decent turn out on a hot sunny day. Colin and Steve continued the work de-turfing the areas either side of out 2 major features in Trench 3a on the SE side, i.e. our first urn (F1) and the octagonal feature (F4). The work next to the urn is to allow us to continue to explore the area around it in preparation for its lifting. In the afternoon Steve moved to the area Chris had opened in the morning SE of the F4 where burning and flecks of cremated bone had been detected. When Chris later cleaned this area he also found a collection of stones at a high level.

Patrick continued his work on the area NW of the octagonal feature (F4). After trowelling through the mottled layer, he began to open up the area by cutting through the underlying soft sandy clay. Starting on the NW side, he worked his way towards F4 in order to create a section down the side of the feature to better understand how it was created.

Peter continued to work on his cremation burial (F12) exposing the full extent of the pit containing the cremated bones. By the end of the day he had found the edge of the cut of the pit and was able to show that the bones ran almost all the way to the end of the pit, which a surprise as a large amount of bone had already been removed from it. It seems very likely that the bones must have been inserted into the pit in a container (maybe a leather bag) which has now rotted away. The bag seems to have been packed in with dark stones preserving the shape of the bag. Chris recorded the feature in 3D and photographed it throughout the day to gather as much detail as possible on this very exciting find.

Francesca finished of the work Bill had started on the area around F12 cleaning away all the debris that had fallen in over the winter.

Ben continued his work in Trench 6 / 6a which is one of the termini of the ring ditch. He was joining these two adjacent trenches together as well as clearing out the debris from the winter collapse. He’d almost completed removing the baulk from between the two when he started to expose bedrock in the ditch wall. Chris joined him in the afternoon for a while and was able to continue following the stone floor up the side of the ditch for several centimetres on either side of the remaining baulk.

Tuesday 8th April
Day 4
Just seven out today – joining Bill and Chris were Patrick, Andrew, Isabel, Colin and Ben. Continuing with the theme of de-turfing areas to exposed the mottled layer (in hope of identifying more burials), Colin was tasked with de-turfing the area immediately to the NE side of our first urn (this would eventually link up with Trench 3c leaving a small island for reference). Similarly Isabel was given the task of de-turfing the area immediately to the SW of the octagonal feature.

Chris meanwhile continued investigating the area around the NE side of our first urn in the hope of getting a glimpse of the urn wall on that side. Patrick continued with trowelling down the mottled clay layer immediately to the NW side of the octagonal feature.

Since the discovery of the burial under the two large flat stones (F12), there has always been a thought that there may be more under the large flats stones uncovered in Trench 1b at the end of Season 2. When these were first exposed, the ones that were looked at were found to be just resting on the soft sandy clay so it was assumed the others were too. It was decided therefore that with this new information, we should take another look at these stones just in case our initial assumption was wrong. A group of three stones were selected for removal (shown at the bottom on the photo in there original formation) and the area immediately underneath excavated. Andrew was tasked with this and initial trowelling showed some promising dark patches in the soft sandy clay (it was labelled F17). However when the area was halve- and then quarter-sectioned, nothing of significance came to light.

Bill meanwhile took some time cleaning the section wall of Trench 3a on the NE side so that this could be recorded. He was keen to do this as it will soon disappear when the rest of this area (between 3a and 1b) is excavated, having already been taken down to the mottled layer. The section also includes two features containing cremated bone deposits – F13 and F14 (F13 having contained a large cache – over two kilograms – see last year’s Day 63). When he was happy with the cleaning he recruited Andrew to help him with creating the section drawing.

Ben continued with his work in Trench 6 and made steady progress. By the end of the day had almost completely cleared the baulk between 6 and 6a.

Wednesday 3rd April
Day 3
Good turnout today with a total of nine on site. Joining Bill, Chris and Patrick were Andrew Wilcock, Jen Harrison, Peter Cooke, Ben Goodburn, Christine Morten and new starter Isabel Vaudrey .Chris continued working the area around our first urn (F1) particularly on the NE side. However he found it difficult to get close to the the wall of the urn on that side as the surrounding clay seemed to be encrusted onto it and he was worried that removing it may damage the urn.Patrick meanwhile continued his work on the area NW of the octagonal feature (F4) trowelling the mottled clay down to check for any other features. Isabel, our new recruit from the Bolton Arch Soc work on the trench area just on the NW side of our first urn. This was to expose the section to see if we could detect the transition from the NE side of the trench (where the stratigraphy was clear) to the SW side where the stratigraphy was less clear. This didn’t reveal any change so the next thing would be to re-excavate the section near the octagon feature which Colin had looked at last year.

Jen and Andrew continued working on the area between Trench 1b and 3a on the SW side. Andrew continued removing the rest of the turf and topsoil started by Bill on Tuesday on the baulk between Trenches 3a and 1b, while Jen, after removing the covers, was tasked with removing the stones from the stony layer. The intention is to joining the two test pits (one in Trench 3a dug by Jen and one in Trench 1b dug by John Trippier and Bill at the end of last year). Jen noticed that the pit John and Bill had dug still had dark material in it so continued excavating it. This revealed some stones – she also found stones on the SW side at the bottom embedded in the harder clay. It seems therefore that we still haven’t found the natural in this trench.

Christine started trowelling down the area exposed by Colin on Tuesday between Trenches 3a and 1a/1b. The idea was to expose the mottled layer to check for any more features. A hard patch on the SW side of the baulk gave the impression of a feature (but the wind and sunny conditions was causing the clay to rapidly dry out so it was difficult to be certain). Andrew took over the task when Christine left.

Peter continued to look at the burial feature in Trench 3a on the NE side (F12 – which lay under the two flat stones). Although a lot of cremated bone material had already been remove, the was still quite a lot remaining in situ (including some large pieces) and Chris thought he could detect evidence of a possible retaining bag (it was true that the bone seemed to be concentrated into one small area). After careful brushing Peter could detect blackened stones seemingly surrounding the bone (Bill had also noticed these when he first came across the feature last year – Day49). Whether these were the result of burning or some other process was unclear.

Ben meanwhile was give the task of removing the last of the baulk between Trench 6 and 6a. He was hampered by a colony of wasps who were nesting in the south wall of the baulk. Bill joined him later partially clearing the base of the trench to expose the bedrock in a hope to help drainage for when it rained again (this trench being the only one susceptible to flooding).

Tuesday 1st April
Day 2
On site today with Bill were Chris Drabble, Colin Russell, Steve Parry and John Needle.

Chris had been able to bring along surplus equipment from the Border Heritage Group who had finished there long running project in Cheshire. This included much needed buckets and a good number of iron spikes which are very handy for securing the fencing around our open trenches. With this in mind Chris, Steve and Colin spend some time fixing the fencing around the trenches.

Meanwhile John set to work on Trench 1 finishing off the work done last week in clearing the collapse. He was joined later by Steve and by the end of the day they had completely cleared the bottom revealing a large area reasonably flat bedrock floor (even showing a small fault running across it). Instead of cutting away the section to produce the usual vertical wall, they left a small batter or slope to help to prevent further collapse. Last week Bill had noticed a clear layer lying about 30cm above the floor presenting a possible secondary (or tertiary fill). At the interface there appeared to be a rich deposit of charcoal and Bill to the opportunity to take a sample. He also took a sample from a layer slightly higher on the northeast side of the trench. However closer examination of this suggested that it was shale.

One of the objectives suggested for this year’s programme of work, was to de-turf large areas to check for further burials. This would be just to reveal the mottled clay layer which is where the burial seemed to be showing. With this in mind Colin was set to de-turfing the area between Trench 1a/1b and Trench 3a. It was realise this would destroy our Peg 3 so before he started, Bill replaced it with one of the large iron spikes. Bill also started de-turfing the extended baulk on the far SW side of Trench 3a where there had been a small collapse.

Chris spent some time examining our first urn (F1) which had survived very well over the winter months (in fact all the moss which had gathered on it over the previous had totally disappeared). He took the opportunity to expand the cut on the southwest side to see if he could discover how deep the urn was. This revealed it to be just a few centimetres further down but strangely there appeared to be a stone at its base. In the side section, he could also see the extent of the charcoal-rich pit which had been cut into the mottled clay layer for the urn had been deposited in (this seemed to present a double layer suggesting a possible recut). The extent of the pit could also be seen on the surface curving around the northwest side of the urn. Strangely though, this does not continue all the way around. Chris therefore also had a look at the section on the northeast side. This revealed the usual section, recognisable in other areas of the site i.e. the mottle clay layer on top of a thin line of a burnt lying on soft sandy clay (but no sign of the pit). Strange to note that the burning layer has yet to be detected on the southwest side of this area of Trench 3a.

Wednesday 26th March
Day 1
Good weather has meant an early start again this year. Just a small team though to remove the covers and inspect for any damage over the winter months. On site today with Bill were Andrew Wilcock, Peter Cooke, John Needle and Patrick Maloney.

Everything looks fine and we are currently working on a programme of excavations for the coming months. This will include lifting the two urns and removing the rest of the cremated remains that have been discovered so far.  These remains will need to be analysed and John Trippier has already been in touch with osteologists who may be able to help with this. It will however be at a cost, and it is likely that we will need external funding for this. Another priority will be investigating what we think is the remains a possible cist burial. It lies under the sandy clay mound and therefore must be the oldest feature so far found. As seen last year, it was shown to have a cavity which, at the time, was immediately covered so that any dating remains would be protected. We also have other areas to look at, especially where there might be more burials and this will need more topsoil removal.  

Whilst on site we took the opportunity to clean out Trench 1 which had suffered another collapse (with the number of visitors expected this year we need to make the site as presentable as possible). Clearing the spoil revealed a significant charcoal rich layer which had only been hinted at before.
This certainly shows a significant secondary filling phase – one associated with a burning event (but much later than the burning event on the central mound).