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Archaeology

Crossing the Plateau

13th June 2019 by

A short walk exploring the story of the High Peak Trail

The Peak District abounds with former railways now converted into scenic walking and cycling trails. The former Cromford and High Peak Railway, now the High Peak Trail, is one of the best.

But what led anyone to attempt such a difficult feat of construction, over a thousand feet above sea level?

This trail explores the reasons and uncovers signs of other transport routes over the White Peak plateau.

From the car park, set off east on the High Peak Trail by crossing the narrow tarmac lane. Walk with care over the low-walled embankment, keeping dogs on leads. Stop just past the embankment.

[Read more…] about Crossing the Plateau

Lullaby of the Larks – an artist response to Fin Cop

26th November 2018 by

Lullaby of the Larks

Derbyshire Museums Manager, Ros Westwood’s response to the exhibition at Buxton Museum and Art Gallery

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Amanda Johnson

Lullaby of the Larks is Richard and Amanda Johnson’s response to archaeological remains from Fin Cop. Many artists working at the museum have been moved by events there. Visitors to the Wonders of the Peak gallery can see the work of Caroline Chouler-Tissier, and read Gordon McLellan’s moving poetry and stories, while considering the face of one of the people who was there.

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Richard Johnson

But what is the story behind this?

I first learnt about Fin Cop in a letter that was sent to the director of the museum (me) over 15 years ago. The notelet was written in the hand of an elderly lady who had heard about the remains of a woman being found in a ditch. “I am appalled…”, I read, and then I had to work out where the letter continued, so that ultimately, it is these words that hang in my memory.

“I am appalled…”

I worked out that this was not a matter for the Derbyshire Constabulary Cold Case squad, since this was all too long ago, but rather for the archaeologists at the Peak District National Park, and they were already ‘on to it’.

Let me take you there

Fin Cop is a high spur of a hill overlooking the deep valley of the Wye River. If you go to Monsal Dale, and stand on the Headstone Viaduct and look downstream – Fin Cop rises on the left. It is probably a good place for a settlement, with meadows on the hills around offering level ground for modest iron-age pasturage and ‘gardens’, and fertile soils in the valley below, and fish and wild fowl from the river. From this platform, the views are spectacular (although be aware, this is private property and visiting isn’t encouraged). Back then, people would be able to see the smoke from fires from neighbouring settlements in the early dawn, and the comforting glow of distant firelight under the sweep of the Milky Way on dark nights. Communities then were not necessarily alone.

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Fin Cop facial reconstruction

But something happened here, and the limestone of Derbyshire has preserved some of the story. Between 2010 and 2012, an award-winning, community archaeology project excavated at Fin Cop alongside archaeologists from the Peak District National Park. What they found asked more questions perhaps than anticipated, but the story suggested does not make comfortable reading. It is not my task here republish the archaeologists’ report; that can be seen at www.archaeologicalresearchservices.com , but what remains there were preserved in the limestone and what is missing leave many questions to consider.

What might have happened at Fin Cop?

People had been going there for thousands of years. There is a tool-knapping floor, with the remains of chert flakes scattered around, dating from long before the iron age. But by the time of our events it seems that there was a community here, maybe not permanently, but with the security of a wall around the houses. Something happened, and the community reinforced that wall, not very well so we can imagine it had to be done quite quickly. And then…?

Let us start with the things which are missing from the archaeology. We would expect clothes and baskets and other organic materials to have disintegrated completely, which they have. But there is very, very little pottery – admittedly the pottery of the time was friable and poorly made – more like flapjack than ceramics!  No metal – well, the limestone reaction will not have helped that. No beads, no bone ornaments and tools; no spindle whorls or loom weights. If you want clothes made from wool, then these would surely survive, just round or circular pieces of stone with holes drilled through them?

It is unlikely that the archaeologists didn’t choose to collect them. They just aren’t there. Nor are the bones of animals – pigs or sheep. There is no evidence of men, or older women. There is no evidence of infection, nor of a site being raised to the ground.

So what is there?

What there was, found seemingly tossed into the ditch below the wall, and with the wall tumbled above, were the remains of young women, children and unborn babies, including a woman carrying twins. No clothes. No ornaments – not a bone pin that might have held a cloak, or beads that may have braided hair. The soles of the feet had been beaten, to such extent that the marks remain even now in the bones. A drinking cup, broken and friable was thrown away too, like a modern emptied takeaway coffee cup; this was the only artefact other than the rocks from the wobbly defences above. Sixteen skeletons or partial remains were removed from the trenches. There may be four hundred more – let them rest there.

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skull from Fin Cop

The removed bones have been subject to a variety of investigation. Amongst my favourite pieces of information is of the woman with caries in her teeth: clearly she liked honey, the best and easily available natural sugar. My imagination wanders with her as she steals it from the pots, licking her fingers and the residual taste on her lips; as she follows the bees back to the hive so that she can plan to harvest the comb.

But ominously, as I say, these are all women of child bearing age and children. With Liverpool’s John Moore’s University, we have tried to capture the face of a teenager who died, whose early life had been blighted by injury, illness and hunger.

What happened?

We can never know. We can surmise, but there will always be doubts.

However, as discussions for the deposition of these remains continued at the museum, I had occasion to be listening to the radio. Likely it was Woman’s Hour, because the conversation was topical, sympathetic and a women’s story. Two women from the Balkan states, refugees now in Britain (and I apologise here for my sloppy memory) were recalling horrific events they had witnessed during the war there at the end of last century. One day, their female relatives – was it mother … aunt … sister, even – were forcibly pulled away from them, walked onto the bridge, made to perch on the parapet … at which point the two surviving witnesses watched the drunken soldiery shoot these women, and their bodies falling into the river below.

How do they reconcile this memory with their grief?

Is this what happened? A falling out amongst communities? The men and older women, all the possessions – animals, looms, utensils, clothes, everything – cleansed from the site, just leaving this youthful generation, and possible evidence of a genocide. Did these women and their children have any protection, any clothes? Unlikely – clothes, blankets – they can all be reused. But just as the new male lion does, these offspring and potential offspring were wiped from the record. The killers’ will have their own children, their DNA lines, with their women, only.

After that, from what we can see, no-one except the ghosts returned to Fin Cop. But oral memory is long; the footpath to Ashford is known in Old English as the Way of the Young.

The birds still sing; hazelnut shells, rosehips and hawthorn berries bear witness of to the berries these iron age women may have gleaned. It is a meadow of extraordinary beauty, whose history can only really be imagined.

You can see Lullaby of the Larks, admission free, until Saturday 24 November. Plan your visit here.

You can listen to Amanda’s composition here.

Reynard’s Cave

30th July 2018 by

Pause where you can see the natural arch of Reynard’s Cave. To find out how it formed we need to travel back to the end of the last Ice Age, around 10,000 years ago, when glacial meltwater swelled the Dove into a powerful torrent. Icy waters cut down through fissures and faults in the rock like a knife through butter. The vertical crags and pinnacles we can see from here are harder bands of limestone that the water could not cut through, but just how did these natural caves and arches form?

Reynard’s Cave © Beth via Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)

 

Limestone has many joints and cracks. When acidic rainwater trickles into these joints, it dissolves and widens them into underground drainage systems, including tunnels, caves and caverns. As the river cut down through the limestone it intercepted some of these secret tunnels and caves, opening them up for the first time. Reynard’s Cave is the remnant of just such an old cavern, exposed as the Dove cut down through the limestone.

[Read more…] about Reynard’s Cave

Staden – The Medieval Long House

19th July 2018 by

During an excavation in 1989, Archaeologist Dr Makepeace discovered a medieval longhouse. Which was uncovered not far from the path that runs past Colt Croft that you may be on. The longhouse was approximately 5.5m wide and 22.5m long, making it a behemoth of a structure in a relatively uninhabited rural landscape. Longhouses provided a large horizontal living space for a large amount of people, albeit in close quarters; as well as additional loft storage space above for hay and grains to be kept over the winter months.

   Fragments of Medieval Pottery from Staden.

The house is believed to be part of a medieval farming settlement. Archaeological and historical evidence allow us to date the long house to the early 12th century AD. Pottery from the site such as the green glazed ware, were medieval in nature and matched this date period. The earliest written records state Staden as a farming settlement in 1101 AD.

[Read more…] about Staden – The Medieval Long House

Roman Staden

19th July 2018 by

The year is 110 AD, Trajan is emperor of Rome, Britain is well within the grip of the Roman Empire. In the Peak District the Romans flock to the small town of Aquae Arnemetiae, now modern Buxton, for the healing quality of its natural springs. On the outskirts a small farmstead is thriving on the limestone scarp of Staden.

         Roman Iron Brooch or Clasp.

Along the path leading to Colt Croft there were numerous paddocks, kilns, and small Roman houses. This was the Roman farm at Staden. To the rear of Colt Croft, further along the path, lie the Romano-British fields. This small slither of land was once an extremely fertile piece of farmland in an area of otherwise extremely acidic soil. They practiced mixed farming, meaning they produced both grains as well as herded cattle and occasionally hunted local deer.

[Read more…] about Roman Staden

Staden Low

19th July 2018 by

As you move along the trail across the Limestone outcrop of Staden, take a chance to look down the hillside. If you are lucky you may notice an outline of a circular structure amongst the lower fields, this is believed by some to be a Neolithic earthwork enclosure – this is Staden Low.

   Two Flint Scrapers from Staden.

Standing at Staden Low, the view of the skyline of the surrounding hilly landscape is believed to have been highly significant to the Neolithic people. The earthwork may have been constructed as a place to observe the major lunar standstill in the 18.6 year cycle, and the Midsummer and Midwinter Solstices. Imagine yourself on a dark night, with no artificial light, only the stars above and a mystical moon hovering low over the rolling landscape of the Peak District. It would have truly been a sight to behold for the Neolithic people! Perhaps you’ll come back on a Lunar Solstice and see for yourself?

[Read more…] about Staden Low

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