 In September this year North Yorkshire
County Council were to have voted on plans, which would have determined the future of
quarrying around Thornborough Henge complex. As I reported in June last year
(newsletter 74) Tarmac has been attempting to obtain permission to extend their operations which,
campaigners have argued, could eventually see gravel extraction right up to the edge of
the complex. A pressure group, called TimeWatch, has been formed to fight the proposals
and has obtained a 10,000 signature petition as well as support from David Miles, chief
archaeologist with English Heritage.
In response, Tarmac has accused protestors of misleading the public and has pointed out
that gravel from the existing operations has been used to build hospitals. They also say
that far from destroying archaeology, Tarmac had been responsible for discovering,
recording and preserving it. The company points out that it has spent over £400,000 on
archaeological work, covering more than 100 acres at the proposed site. They insist that
their plans to extract 2.2 million tons of sand and gravel would pose no threat to the
henges in any way (?).
Despite this, at the meeting in September, the councillors were set to reject their
application. Tarmac, at the last-minute however, made a request for a deferral of
the planning application until even further investigation could be carried out. This was
initially welcomed by campaigners such as Mike Hayworth from the CBA who said at least it
would deal with the major objections that the site is of national importance.
However, worries are now growing that the quarry firm is rushing the archaeological
survey. George Chaplin, chairman of TimeWatch, claims they are working in bad weather,
using heavy equipment and without adequate supervision from independent archaeologists. He
is also concerned that the researches are too focussed on the Neolithic and likely to miss
other important archaeology. The leader of the survey team, Steve Timms, has countered
this by saying he is confident in the survey plan, because English Heritage have been
involved in all stages, both in its design and day to day monitoring. The survey team are
due to report in January next year.
This has been an acrimonious dispute, lasting many years and has highlighted the age-old
problems between developer and conservationist (something we in Wigan have experienced
first hand with this summer’s town centre development). We can only hope that the
right decision will be made based on well-informed argument. If you want to learn more
about the dispute here are some websites to visit.
Nosterfield project
Friends of Thornborough
TimeWatch
Wilderspool
 Dave Thomas dropped a book off the other
day, which he’d picked up from a second-hand book fair, entitled ‘Roman
Cheshire’. It is the second volume of ‘A History of Cheshire’ written by
F.H Thompson and I’m finding it very interesting. It was first published in 1965, and
although over 40 years old, it is absolutely full of information about the archaeology of
the region. Sites include Holt, Heronbridge, Northwich, Middlewich and Chester itself.
Most intriguing of all, for me however, is the section on the site at Wilderspool near
Warrington, which gives an account of the work carried out there up to that time.
Wilderspool was a large Roman settlement on the south bank of the River Mersey dating to
around the late 1st early 2nd centuries AD and was extensively excavated by Thomas May
between 1895 and 1905. The result from this work shows extensive industrial activity
including iron working, tile making and even glass products. Excavations also showed
evidence of a small fort on the banks of the River Mersey, at the point where the road to
Wigan crossed it (although strangely, the road seemed to lie on top of the fort rampart).
The iron working included both smelting and smithing and intriguingly some cast iron was
found, which May speculates could be the result of experimentation with coal as a smelting
fuel. He also says that this may have come from the coal-rich areas around Wigan. The
pottery from Wilderspool is well known and we even know the names of the potters who
apparently moved to Carlisle later in the 2nd century.
Many other excavations have been carried out on the Wilderspool site since May’s
time, including a large one in 1966 just a year after the book was published, but I
suspect May’s has probably been the most revealing.
Next Meeting
Wednesday 7tth December at the Baden Powell Centre (Scout HQ) in
Greenough Street, starting at 7.30 pm as usual. Ian Miller from Oxford Archaeology
North will be here to bring us put to date on the finding from the town
centre excavations. In last month’s newsletter, I reviewed the details as
far as we knew them, but more and more information is coming to light all the time, as
post-excavation work continues. As it’s the Christmas meeting, the usual refreshments
will be available (Tom says the Beaujolais this year is great).
Hope to see you there. If not, have a good Christmas and hope to see you in the New Year.
B.A.
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