FRIENDS of MELLOR ARCHAEOLOGICAL TRUST
NEWSLETTER JULY 2005

It is the time of the year for the renewal of the Friends subscription for 2005/6. If you would like to become a Friend of Mellor Archaeological Trust, please contact Ann Hearle at the Old Vicarage, Mellor. There is a Friends Evening on Friday the 26th of August, 7pm at the Old Vicarage and there will be a training day for those who would like to take part on Monday the 29th. Both these events need to be booked in advance by contacting Ann.

The Open Days are Saturday the 3rd and Sunday the 4th of September. Please help us publicise the event as much as possible. There are flyers and posters available. Volunteers are always welcome on the days.

The start of the excavation season is now here. This will be the eighth year of work on the hilltop to try and unravel its history of occupation. Last year was very exciting, with one very large area in the triangular field excavated. Plus a trench in the field below the Old Vicarage, another in the area next to the ditch by the drive and a small excavation in the field above the church car park.

The weather was against us last year with a pump having to be used on many mornings to remove the water before excavation started. Despite the water logged-earth the area revealed one and possibly two Iron Age Round Houses. The find of the year came from the section nearest the Vicarage, an early Bronze Age flint dagger. The experts report says 'The Mellor flint dagger is one of the finest and best preserved examples to be discovered in recent years.'

The work beside the ditch section by the drive revealed a palisade slot.

In the field a trench was excavated near to the wall. The depth of the ditch became shallower closer to the wall. This could possibly be because at a much later date the land at the back of the house was made up. This would tie in with the discovery two years ago that the land beyond the section of the deep ditch next to the vegetable patch was also made up. It would appear that the land sloped steeply from the ditch in all directions when it was dug.

With the finding of the shallow ditch in the trench above the church car park that matched the ditch found in previous years in the field below the Old Vicarage it is now believed that there was a deep defensive inner ditch around the Church and Old Vicarage with a shallow outer ditch extending up the hillside. Geophysical work carried out over the winter shows a feature continuing up the slope. Maybe the whole hilltop was enclosed! We now know that there was at least one large round house in the middle of the inner ditch and one or possibly two houses in the area between the two ditches. So the outer area was not just for stock and raising crops. We obtained two carbon dates last year. The Round House gulley came with c100BC and a pit close to where the dagger was found as 1,000BC. More evidence of the continued occupation of the hilltop.

The dig update evening in March was a very successful event, a very full hall. These evenings have now become an annual event for excavators and friends, putting the previous year's work into its local and regional context.

Last year's Open Days were held in beautiful weather and 1,300 people attended. As usual, the car parking is the most difficult task to tackle. The parking of the enormous coach from Huddersfield Archaeological Society was successfully solved! Plus of course hoping that the voices of the tour guides last out the week end! Thank you to anyone who helped in any way.

John Roberts, Donald Reid and Ann Hearle give talks to groups throughout the year. Large or small numbers, it all helps to spread the knowledge of the site. All the above activities generate money which helps pay for the experts to report on the finds and conservators to stabilise the fragile objects.

We are very pleased that Stockport Museums Service will archive the Mellor finds, with the major finds on display as part of the Stockport Story. The new museum in the Market Place is due to open in Spring next year. The Mellor hilltop will be the focus of prehistory in Stockport.

Several of the trustees have attended meetings in Stockport to have an input in the Strategy planning that is being undertaken. They try to ensure that the historical and archaeological aspects of the area are recognised.

Work has started work on setting up our own web site. It will be on display on the open days and once ready will have prominent links from the Marple Website. There will also be the on computer the new Sites and Monuments Record for Stockport. John Hudson, the well known potter as seen on Time Team will be demonstrating and will identify your piece of china for you!

All being well the Friends evening should see the publication of the book that has come out of the Study Day held in 2004. All the papers and the excavations, finds and interpretation of the Mellor site have been updated. The title is 'Living on the Edge Revisited'. The Iron Age and Romano-British Settlement of Mellor: A Regional Study'. Special offer on price on the evening!

One of our Friends, Philip Day, has acquired ground-penetrating-radar (GPR) equipment and software, the commercial charge for GPR work is £1,000 per day, so it will be of great benefit to Mellor archaeology for GPR to be carried out at zero cost. Philip is enthusiastic about what he can record - and more difficult interpret - on the Mellor site.