CENTRE FOR NORTH-WEST REGIONAL STUDIES ARCHAEOLOGY CONFERENCE - 6 MARCH 1993

Transcription

1 CENTRE FOR NORTH-WEST REGIONAL STUDIES ARCHAEOLOGY CONFERENCE - 6 MARCH 1993 Recording and Repairing Bolton Castle - Jason Wood The Lancaster University Archaeological Unit undertakes a variety of work throughout Northern England and elsewhere. A particular specialism of the Unit is the survey, recording, analysis, and interpretation of the historic fabric of standing buildings and monuments. Such work is often required in advance of, and during, works of repair and conservation. To satisfy the need for integrated project design, and the successful management of the various projects, the Unit's staff work closely with all other professional groups involved in the conservation process (particularly the architects, engineers, and building contractors) to ensure that the necessary archaeological considerations are fully integrated into the appropriate specifications and schedules of works. In recent years, the Unit has been involved in conservation projects on six ruined masonry castles in three northern counties. At two of these sites, Piel Castle and Brougham Castle (Cumbria), archaeological work was commissioned directly by English Heritage, as both properties are in State guardianship. The remaining four sites are in private care, namely Bolton Castle (North Yorkshire), Pendragon Castle (Cumbria), and Clitheroe Castle and Lancaster Castle (Lancashire). Here, archaeological work has been undertaken as a condition of Scheduled Monument Consent and English Heritage's Section 24 grant-aid approval. Bolton Castle Bolton Castle, which dominates the tiny village of Castle Bolton in Wensleydale, is accepted as the finest surviving example of a northern, quadrangular, keepless castle or maison forte of the late 14th century. The castle was built by master mason John Lewyn for Sir Richard Scrope, and is now in the ownership of the Orde-Powlett family. In 1990, the Unit was appointed as full-time consultants to a major repair programme, the archaeological work being initially under the direction of Michael Trueman and later Nigel Neil. Phase I of the repair project, which ended in May 1991, was restricted to the North and East Ranges of the castle, together with the external faces of the North-East Tower. The North Range contains the Great Hall and service rooms, together with a residential suite in the North Turret. In the East Range were residential rooms, the Gatehouse, and a room for the portcullis mechanism. Phase II works to the South Range, including the Chapel and Auditor's Chamber, began in October 1991, and archaeological recording has now recommenced in advance of Phase III works to the South-East and South-West Towers. The project brief, prepared by English Heritage, required the Unit to make plan and stone-by-stone elevation records at 1:50 scale, and to give professional advice (on a weekly basis) to the architect on the interpretation of historic fabric. The worked-up drawings, based substantially on photogrammetric data and rectified photography supplied by Atkins AMC, are being used for analysing and reporting on the structural history of the building, areas of repairwork and fabric interventions, and building materials. Detailed drawings, at 1:20 and larger scales, are also being produced, where required, as the basis for

2 repair approval and for recording certain details (eg moulding profiles and masons' marks). An archive report on the archaeological work undertaken during Phase I of the project has been prepared by Michael Trueman and Nigel Neil, and the Phase II report (largely written by Peter Redmayne and Jonathan Smith) has also recently been completed. Specialist reports on the building stone and architectural features have been compiled by Brian Young and Stuart Harrison respectively. The project at Bolton Castle takes appropriate account of archaeological considerations but is not driven by them. Work is restricted to those areas which fall within the repair programme, and archaeological recording runs in tandem not so much with analysis and interpretation as with the undertaking of a host of additional work integral with the conservation process and creation of the `as-built' survey. Academically, the work is providing the opportunity to methodically gather accurate data on the castle fabric, and it is already apparent that this information is clarifying and extending our understanding of the construction and evolution of the building, as well as of the changing functions of its rooms and other constituent parts. However, a truly comprehensive study must await further recording, combined with extensive documentary research. Mitchell's Brewery Lancaster Rachel Newman The site of Mitchell's Brewery, in the centre of Roman and medieval Lancaster, was subject to a proposed development as long ago as Initial trial excavations demonstrated up to 2 metres of Roman, medieval and post-medieval stratigraphy across the site, and therefore a large open area excavation took place behind the street frontage in the summer of 1988 as part of a multiphase programme of recording. This recovered important evidence of a large early Roman timber building, which had been superseded by small workshop-type occupation in the later Roman period. This part of the site had, however, remained open during the subsequent millenium and had not been developed until the seventeenth or eighteenth centuries. The retail development of the site has been severely delayed and in fact has not yet taken place. This uncertainty meant that the second phase of excavation, originally programmed for 1989, did not take place until the summer of 1992, when, for a brief moment, development appeared to be imminent. This second excavation aimed to examine the narrow street frontage available, where the greatest concentration of archaeological deposits might be expected, and also the land immediately to the west of the 1988 site, concentrating on the area adjacent to the early timber building identified in The 1992 excavation revealed two large early Roman structures close to the street. That to the east had been refurbished on several occasions and its later phases were associated with some sort of industrial activity. Behind these buildings were a number of square, timber-lined features and other, clearly rubbish, pits. The later Roman period was characterised by a metalled surface, which had been resurfaced at least once.

3 Although little evidence of medieval activity survived near the street frontage, a large timber structure was indicated, which had respected the south edge of the later Roman metalling. The back of the site had remained open throughout the medieval period, although a very find stonelined well was found, which had begun to silt up by the thirteenth century, and nearby, a large, probably post-medieval, stone tank. The post-excavation programme is currently being undertaken, which will analyse the site in some detail. The results will clearly provide important information on the nature and development of Roman Lancaster and its reformation as an important town in the medieval period. Recent Fieldwork in the Isle of Man - Peter Davey The Isle of Man Government has recently embarked upon two ambitious schemes designed to provide all island solutions to problems of domestic rubbish and sewage disposal. Both involve a complex of possible archaeological impacts. The first, at Kerrowdhoo, in the north of the Island, involves a 50 acre rubbish landfill site, designed to create an artificial "drumlin" over a period of 30 years. Archaeological survey and trial excavations have shown that the majority of the land in question was enclosed, during the first decades of the 19th century, from early post-glacial fossil sand dune systems clothed with maritime heathland. On the crests of the dune a number of prehistoric burnt mound sites have been identified and in the slacks a range of flint material dating from Mesolithic to Bronze Age. The second, the IRIS project (Integrated Recycling of the Island's Sewage), is designed to provide a 21st century alternative to the present system which disposes of untreated sewage direct into the sea from all the main settlements. It will involve a single inland treatment plant for the whole island, the final stages of which will use phragmites beds to complete the cleaning process. The solid "product" will then be used as a fertiliser. The archaeological implications of IRIS are far-reaching. Apart from the central treatment plant itself, it has been necessary to survey 132 km of pipeline and the sites of 6 underground storage-tanks and 12 pumping stations. A range of new sites has been identified and some useful environmental information recovered. The Roman Army in Carlisle - Ian Caruana A series of excavations since 1973 in the north-west corner of Carlisle has brought to light a sequence of forts which formed the core of the Roman settlement of Luguvalium. The lecture will not describe these in detail but a brief introduction will outline the history of the site before examining some of the implications of recent discoveries. The first fort was built in AD 72/3. The rampart was of turf and timber with two ditches and the internal buildings (probably barracks) of timber. Some minor changes took place in the late 70s, followed by a major rebuild of the barracks in AD 83/4. Another major rebuild took place in AD 92/3, this time concentrated on a reconstruction of the south

4 gate. The fort was systematically demolished with the remnants of each building fired in situ after serviceable timber had been salvaged. A new timber fort was built about AD 105. The rampart seems to have been an earth bank built slightly forward of the demolished Flavian rampart and there was only one ditch. A second phase, marked by some rebuilding, was initiated c.ad 125. Activity under Hadrian was not intense but picked up in the early Antonine period as the frontier was moved into Scotland. In the late 160s a new fort was constructed in stone. The only defence was a very small bank of turf and clay without a ditch. Only one structure, a courtyard building, has been discovered so far. Probably around AD 183/5 the fort was rebuilt. The bank was raised slightly and the courtyard building was replaced by barracks. Military occupation ceased in the early fourth century. The most important date in this sequence is the foundation date of AD 72/3 which places the origin of Carlisle in the governorship of Petillus Cerialis rather than under Agricola, as is widely believed. The first two forts seem to have been largely conventional in form. The Flavian fort was probably of normal playing-card shape, with an annexe on the south side. Auxiliary units may have been present in each of its phases but there were certainly also legionaries present in the 80s. A written document attests the presence of soldiers of Legion XX in November 83 and the new barracks constructed around AD 83 are of dimensions more appropriate to legionaries than auxiliary troops. The auxiliary units are not readily identified but there are strong indications of the presence of cavalry in most periods. Two possible units are the ala Sebosiana mentioned in a letter and ala II Asturum given on a lead sealing. Little is known about the character of the first stone fort but the second fort is of considerable interest. Building and occupation was almost certainly by legionaries and there is evidence which suggests that the garrison was composite with elements of two legions together. Rather than a conventional fort it seems likely that in the late second and third centuries, Carlisle was equivalent on the western side of the country to Corbridge in the east. Both seem to have fulfilled some form of command or support role for Hadrian's Wall rather than being normal garrison forts. Bronze Age Pottery in the North West: The Results of a Survey - Ann Hallam The greater part of the region of study lies between the Irish Sea and the Pennine watershed, and extends from the Solway to the mouth of the Clywd. The Earlier and Later Bronze Age pottery lies scattered in some forty museums and other institutions from Edinburgh to London and from Newcastle to Cardiff. The first objective was to make a comprehensive record of all extant and documented pots. Some 500 corpus entries were made, mostly representing single pots individually drawn. Beakers were most heavily represented in the most northerly sector, whilst Food Vessels were scarce in the central sector. Most numerous were Collared Urns, some 225 examples, fairly comparable with Longworth's some 300 example for `old' Yorkshire plus Lincolnshire. The second objective was

5 to evaluate the material in the light of the small number of available radiocarbon dates, the considerable North-Western body of palaeobotanical research, and the geographical configurations of the region. It seems highly likely:- (a) that Bronze Age pottery was usually made in a preindustrial setup very close to the place of discovery; (b) that little reliance can be placed on chronologies closely based on typology; (c) that the numerical decline of ceramics in the Later Bronze Age reflects an important cultural change linked with worsening weather; (d) that pottery distribution in the Earlier Bronze Age reflects the locational preferences of these farmers and graziers. The Landscape Legacy of Peat Digging - Angus Winchester Until the transport revolution of the nineteenth century, peat formed an important domestic fuel in rural communities throughout the north and west of Britain. In north-west England it was dug from both lowland and upland peat mosses and was the staple fuel for many communities from the late medieval period, continuing to be used within living memory in a few places. The use of peat for fuel was controlled by the manor court, which made byelaws limiting the dates on which peat could be cut. Rights to peat were often limited by custom, different houses in the manor possessing exclusive rights to their own `peat pots'. The principal landscape legacy of traditional peat cutting in the North- West consists of the worked out and sometimes flooded peat banks on the moors and fells. For the most part, peat-cutting has left few other traces, but in parts of the Lake District a range of structures built in connection with peat cutting have been left on the fellsides. Packhorse tracks and sledge paths for bringing peat down to the valleys are common, and in several parts of the Lake District drystone `peat scales' (storage huts in which peat was dried) were built on the open fellsides, usually at the break in slope at the top of the steep climb up to the peat-banks. Peat scales are recorded in documentary sources from the late-medieval period and map evidence combined with field survey has demonstrated that they were found not only in Eskdale and Wasdale (as reported in a paper in Transactions of the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society, 84 (1984), ) but also in the Duddon valley, Langdale, Mardale and Bampton, and Wythburn. They form a distinctive element in the Lake District landscape, particularly as comparable structures are scarce in other peat-cutting areas of Britain. So far, parallels to the Cumbrian peat scales have only been noted in Caernarvonshire and the Faeroe Islands. Industrial Archaeology of the North-West - Michael Trueman & Jamie Quartermaine This paper aims to illustrate some of the work in Industrial Archaeology that LUAU has been and is carrying out. It will concentrate on five industrial projects; the Backbarrow Ironworks, the Grassington lead mine, the Hoffman Kilns at Langcliffe and Ingleton and the Hotties glassworks in St Helens. Michael Trueman will examine the first four sites and Jamie Quartermaine will discuss the results of the Hotties project.

6 At the first site, Backbarrow Ironworks, we compiled a comprehensive inventory of site remains and completed detailed elevation drawings of the furnace and associated structures as a precaution against continued deterioration of the Scheduled Ancient Monument. At Grassington, we have been carrying out a land survey of the lead smelter and associated features, together with elevation recording of the main structures in advance of consolidation work. I mention Langcliffe, which we recorded in 1989, mainly as a precursor to illustrating the similar work we have recently undertaken on the Ingleton Hoffman kiln and limeworks, done as a comparative study. Again a landscape survey has been undertaken of the whole site, together with detailed recording of the Hoffman Kiln. For all the sites mentioned up to Ingleton, the Unit has produced final survey drawings using a traditional combination of drafting film and pen. At Ingleton and the Hotties however, in one of our own mini industrial revolutions, we moved over to the use of a Computer Aided Design system. The Hotties project, in St Helens, was initiated in 1991 when the unit was commissioned to undertake the recording of the surviving Glass tank house and associated structures in advance of redevelopment to transform it into a science and arts centre. This building and one other is all that remains in St Helens of the early tank furnaces which used the, then innovative, Siemens glass production process. It was largely the introduction of this process in the late 19th century that caused the growth of St Helens from its humble beginnings to being the glass town of the north. The Unit is currently undertaking excavations within the main tank building to expose the complex of subterranean flues and tunnels which were at the heart of the Siemens heat exchange process. Conquerors or Colonists? The Anglo-Saxons in the North West to AD Nick Higham A title of this kind would be entirely inappropriate to a discussion of either the Roman or Norman conquests of the region. That such issues are still hotly debated with reference to the Anglo-Saxons demonstrates how little progress has even now been made towards an understanding of the political and cultural processes in which Roman Britain ended and Anglo- Saxon England emerged. In this respect, the North-West is a particularly intractable region for several reasons: it has a near unique poverty of archaeological material which makes it impossible to offer the sort of analyses which are commonplace in Kent, for example, or East Anglia; it was peripheral to the political power structures of both late Roman Britain and early England and entirely devoid of any unity as such at all; indeed, it will be suggested that the question of Cheshire's incorporation into Anglo-Saxon England should be viewed as a very separate issue to the problems posed by Lancashire and Cumbria. The necessary starting point for any such discussion is the political structure of late Roman Britain, to which this region was peripheral. It remained so during the shift in power from the sub-roman lite to incoming "Saxon" warriors during the fifth century. This seminar will offer new interpretations of the limited contemporary or near contemporary literary evidence, suggesting that Anglo-Saxon England originated as a tribute-supported protectorate of sub-roman Britain which

7 was a matter of treaty between the Saxon leadership and the militarily humiliated British authorities. If this began as a single system, it broke down into a regionalised one by c.600, at latest, but the neighbouring `overkingships' of the Anglo-Saxon world during the conversion period still seem to owe a debt of sorts to the Roman system of provinces. By then large numbers of Britons had apparently begun to adopt Anglo-Saxon language and culture, under the same sort of colonial imperatives as had earlier led the Gauls and Spanish to adopt provincial Latin. In conclusion, it will be suggested that the Anglo-Saxons were more Conquerors than Colonists. Their spread was characterised by imitation, under the impetus of domination, as much as by colonisation. The term "Anglo-Saxon" is, therefore, better treated as a description of culture (including language) than as an indicator of ethnicity.