Tag: Field Walk

Our day started with a slight twist. Having finished our pre walk meeting in the Heritage Centre Café (aka The Office) – we were invited to take a look at the newly renovated cruck framed barn. This has gone from an agricultural use to a marital one. Today it was being bedecked for a wedding (see image). I hope it was a happy event and went without a hitch (except the official one).

The walk itself started near Old Hall Farm, Roughlee, and initially followed Pendle Way west north west, roughly. There seem to be a number of old building platforms in the hay meadows above the village. No detail was discernible due to the height of the flora. Higher up we encountered numerous quarries before briefly joining the road that runs north out of Roughlee. Just before we did that we spied a set of old gate posts (image above) that are either medieval or early post medieval. After our brief stint on the road we headed along the north east edge of Brown Hill. This afforded us a fine view (image below) of the subject of two walks from earlier this year – Admergill.

At the north end of Brown Hill, running up to its summit, we noticed an old double ditch and bank. The image above shows it in section (courtesy of erosion) with its crown elegantly highlighted by legs. The feature becomes better defined the lower you go. It warrants further investigation. We stopped for lunch nearby and enjoyed the excellent views – like the one in the header image looking west along the Hidden Valley toward Spen Brook. After lunch we headed north east along the ridge, stopping for a look at Hollin Top Laithe Barn (one for recording) and its ancillary features – stone gatepost, walls, troughs, pitched track etc (image below). At Bank Ends we dropped down to Blacko Foot and paralleled Blacko Bar Road. In fields near North Farm we saw platforms & a banked ditch that need some research. They are on the old aerial images of the area but no clues are offered by the early OS maps. The ditch defines the edge of an area of intense ridge & furrow activity. From here we followed the old, possibly medieval, road back to Old Hall Farm and the end of the walk.

One objective of today was to look at a possible chert knapping site identified on one of the fieldwalks that comprised Phase 1 of the Pendle’s Hidden Valley Project. More material has eroded out of the site in the past year or so. I am now happy to upgrade the site from possible to probable.
I know I keep banging on about joining us on these walks because you never know what secrets of the past you may discover, or what surprising sights you may see, but it really is true. So join the Friends of Pendle Heritage and join us one of our field walks, digs, or other events. On which note, the final image was possibly the oddest thing seen today – not sure what Mother was saying to our kid but possibly summat along the lines of “Dunno what it is, but its been there since Noah were nobbut a lad”

 

PENDLE’S HIDDEN VALLEY PROJECT – 15 August 2015 – FIELD WALK

Alex Whitlock

It was a day of mixed conditions, with a general trend to improve as the day wore on, all in all quite a pleasant spring day – in high summer. The object of the day’s walk was to have a look at the western flank of Bank Hill & see if clues could be found in the area that would explain the presence and purpose of the kiln we are currently excavating above Craggs. Continue reading “Hidden Valley Field Walk – 15 August 2015”

Pendle’s Hidden Valley – Water Meetings Field Walk – 6 June 2015

In short, a highly productive day – quality not quantity.
Only four of us did the walk, including a new member – Mike W. We are very pleased to welcome some new ideas & fresh set of eye, and being few in number we had the opportunity to get to know Mike & vice versa.
We started from Blacko Bar Road in Roughlee then walked up to the old ridge road on the southern edge of the valley and followed this until it dropped down through the quarries & Hudderston Wood onto Water Meetings. Here we had our picnic in the summer sun & speculated on the cavortings that would have been taking place when the area was a playground for the Victorian inhabitants of the nearby mill towns.
After lunch we skirted other side of the valley from whence we came. When we got back to Blacko Bar Road David & Richard took the short cut back to the start while new boy Mike & I crossed the road & into the fields opposite. We then followed the line of the old road back to Roughlee Hall & thus to the end.
Continue reading “Hidden Valley Fieldwalk, 6 June 2015”

As promised, here is the Archaeology report for 22nd February.

HVFW 22 Feb 2014

More photos are on the original post here.

Great day.  Report will follow.  Here are some photos. Continue reading “Hidden Valley Field Walk – 22nd February”

Pendle Heritage – Archaeology Group

Pendle’s Hidden Valley Field Reconnaissance 8^th February 2014

The third field reconnaissance session for the Pendle’s Hidden Valley project took place on Saturday 8^th February 2014 but in the face of dire weather forecasts, understandably, only 4 stalwarts braved the elements. In the end, despite strong winds we were relatively lucky with the conditions. Continue reading “Pendle’s Hidden Valley – Field Reconnaissance 8th February 2014”

The second field reconnaissance session for the Pendle’s Hidden Valley project took place on Saturday 11^th January 2014 and was well attended with 10 stalwarts setting out from Whalley Golf Club (who kindly allowed us to use their car park).

We set out south along Clerk Hill towards Portfield and it was pointed out that this road  had been artificially sunken as part of the landscaping of the area for Clerk Hill (the house) in order that the view from the house would not be spoiled by seeing people on the road.

At Portfield we assessed the view of the area from a public footpath in the field adjacent to the fort and noted that the fort commanded a 360 deg field of view with a particularly good view back up the Sabden Valley.