In September, October, and November 2021 I will be teaching three archaeology adult education classes. Firstly, in the latest series of my tours of the industrial archaeology remains of North West England, I’ll be talking about the Industrial Archaeology of Cumbria. This will be an online course run by the Workers Education Association. Secondly, I’ll…
This year’s Festival of Archaeology, run by the Council for British Archaeology, is well underway, with lots of exciting events happening around the country. As part of the festival’s theme of ‘Exploring Local Places’, CBA North West are inviting people to tell them about the wonderful archaeology, history, and heritage on our doorstep. CBA North…
Watch Hill castle is one of the oldest and most important archaeological sites in Trafford, being first protected as a scheduled monument in February 1978. It also has the honour of being the first archaeological site entered on the Greater Manchester Sites and Monuments Record, now the Greater Manchester Historic Environment Record, when this was…
How has the the COVID-19 pandemic affected archaeology in North West England? How much fieldwork has there been and where has this been undertaken since March 2020? If you follow CBA North West’s twitter account (@cbannorthwest) or their Facebook group (CBA Northwest) you will have seen that commercial archaeology digs have been taking place throughout…
Throughout the three lockdowns, ever since the 23rd March 2020, I have been photographing the late medieval moat at Timperley Old Hall, Altrincham, Greater Manchester. I have written about this site on a couple of occasions, ironically in February 2020 just at the COVID-19 crisis was starting to develop. Little did I know then that…
The COVID-19 pandemic may have reduced the amount of community archaeology and research excavations across Britain, but it has also provided an opportunity to complete the post-excavation side of many projects. One such is the hunt from the Great Keep at Hoghton Tower in Lancashire. Funded by a grant from the Castles Studies Trust, a…
This year’s Council for British Archaeology Festival is a two-part affair with a nine-day digital festival in July to be followed by physical events in October/November. As a response to the COVID-19 impact on archaeology and heritage this has been inspired. I have been able to contribute several items: an online interview on the impact…
At the beginning of July the I was lucky enough to be involved with ‘Shaped by Steel’ twitter conference run by the ‘Social Worlds of Steel‘ project at Swansea University. Nine sessions and 27 papers spread over two days (1st to 2nd July 2020) covered topics ranging from landscapes, place, and worker identities to climate…
The COVID-19 pandemic has a brought a temporary halt to voluntary and community archaeology fieldwork in Britain, although many groups have continued to undertake post-excavation work and documentary research. Some organisations such as the Council for British Archaeology and DigVentures have innovated in providing online resources and festivals. There is always a backlog of fieldwork…
Since 1987 the South Trafford Archaeological Group have been housed in their own archaeology display centre and headquarters behind Timperley Old Hall, on Altrincham Golf course. The pre-fab, four-roomed, building was a donation in 1985 and cost more than £5,000 to re-erect by the time is was opened by Prof Michael Wood in June 1987.…
