Newsletter #5 26th May 2010

Hello again.

MINUTES

Our last meeting was at 13.00 on Wednesday 19^th May 2010, Touchstones café.

In attendance: Apologies:

Alan Marshall                                  None

Stuart Mendelsohn

Darren Hutchinson

Kenneth Hall

Margaret Clay

Alan Schofield

Joyce Thora

INITIAL POINTS

AM opens, suggests that our next meeting should be held in a private location instead of a public café. Also unsure as to why we wanted the funding.

DH confirmed that we had discussed this at the last meeting when AM could not attend and we had complete support for seeking the funding. AM was also uncertain with our choice of the Co-op bank for the SHHS bank account but DH explained that we were recommended this account by the CVS (Council for Voluntary Services) and it was the only account that would not charge us.

SITE 1 v SITE 2

SM confirmed we are looking at 2 sites.

SM pointed out there was rich soil at site 2, AM wanted a definition of ‘rich soil’, SM offered the explanation that it was well drained and ‘rich soil’ according to the British Geological survey map.

JT wanted to know what year site 2 was referred to, SM said it was in the 1626 Manor survey of which SM has a copy.

SM has found an affordable option of surveying one or both of the sites, a Mr. Noel from the Isle of Man has promised to do a single day for £400 including travel expenses. He added that Mr. Noel has been recommended by numerous large companies in London etc.

AM wants the contact details or Mr. Noel, DH to provide AM with these.

A suggestion was made that because the site 1 survey is difficult to do due to soil composition, we should do site 2 instead. The farmer owning it is happy for us to do the survey, SM has been in contact with him already.

SO WE GET A SCHOOL INVOLVED?

AS wondered why we needed to get school children involved, DH explained it is mainly for grant purposes but, more importantly, the SHHS and any school contribution will both benefit from each others’ involvement. Wardle High has been contacted.

AM commented that site 2 will be a lot more accessible than site 1.

SM returned to the fact that the main stone at site 1 has been worked, and we should use school children to manually survey it. For site 2, a magnetometer survey will allow us to understand the layers of magnetic ‘stuff’ (sorry, I don’t remember some of the technical words used!) under the ground.

LOGISTICS

AS wanted to know who is overseeing the schools and managing of the projects, as we don’t necessarily need another meeting before work begins. SM to manage the project. AM wanted to know the age range of the students, SM said 11-12 and 6^th form.

DH clarified the funding; with money allocated for students travel, insurance, CRB checks, health and safety and of course the survey itself. He clarified that we will be non-discriminate to anybody who wants to join us on this project.

KH wanted to know if we had to have CRB checks, he already has one (as does SM) DH to find out if we all need one or not.

SM contacted Rochdale youth service but has heard nothing yet. If we go through school then insurance and security should be covered by their policy. DH to check what insurance we need through the CVS.

AM commented that funding should be spent on Mr. Noel if agreed by all, AS wanted to know when he can do it. SM said any time over the next month or so.

Participation – Surveyor will be planning out the site in metres, we can help plan and grid the site. All members can be involved in doing the base map, as can school children.

DH suggests; 2 days over 2 weeks. Day 1 being a manual survey of site 1 involving a school. Day 2 Mr. Noel surveys site 2 then looks at site 1 and gives us a price, we then decide whether to do it. This means we will have 2 sites surveyed with budget remaining.

AM commented that by the road at site 1 he found wool ‘labels’, coins and musket balls. He is unsure as to what the musket balls are for as they don’t appear to be consistant with ammo used on that area (apologies if I’ve misunderstood this slightly). He added that it is very rewarding to find so many objects!

AGREEMENT

KH asks if we should agree to DH’s proposal:

DH suggests; 2 days over 2 weeks. Day 1 being a manual survey of site 1 involving a school. Day 2 Mr. Noel surveys site 2 then looks at site 1 and gives us a price, we then decide whether to do it. This means we will have 2 sites surveyed with budget remaining.

SM to manage project. All in agreement.

As for funding, a rough guide is this:

Day 1 Transport, insurance, sundries approx £300.00

Day 2 Survey, Transport, insurance, sundries approx £700.00

AS wanted to know if weather will hamper our efforts? AM said we must plan for the worst eventuality.

AOB

SM – Dunishbooth area has been walked with DH this morning, a number of interesting groundworks have been located (more below). He commented that in Whitworth there was a court for the tenants.

SM would like to track down and translate medieval documents, maybe get university students to help with this, there is a central Lancashire university lecturer interested and may come and look at our sites.

DH will record the project on video & stills to be included on website and newsletters.

NEXT STEPS

Contact schools, get insurance, get transport, book 2 dates, book survey. Get on with it finally!

OTHER VERY INTERESTING STUFF

As mentioned above, DH and SM walked a new site at Dunishbooth on the morning of Wed 19^th May. There are two sites which are of particular interest and research needs to be done to find out more about them.

Area 1 has been walked, SM noticed Area 2 on aerial surveys after we had visited Area 1. This site will be walked soon. Both sites are owned by the farmer at Smallshaw farm, visible on the West side of this picture, and we have permission to walk the site.

DH has created a short video of Area 1 which can be found by typing this address in www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLQhdwbmj-w

or go to the Dreamscope site and click on the Area 1 video www.youtube.com/user/DreamscopeTV (location kept anonymous)

Area 2 is looking even more promising, SM has produced a PowerPoint slideshow which can be accessed through our website: www.salfordhundred.co.uk – it is attached to this online newsletter on the home page.

So, we’re nearly there!

All the very best

Darren Hutchinson

SHHS Secretary

Newsletter #4 4th March 2010

Hello again.

Firstly – apologies for the long delay in getting this newsletter out to you all. Basically it has boiled down to one particular reason… Nothing major to report!

That’s the bad news, but now for the good news…

The reason there has been no major developments with the SHHS, aside from the fact that winter obliterated any chances we had to visit the site, is that we have been waiting for news on the grant we applied for in August last year. And the good news is that we’ve got it! The cheque arrived in the post a week ago and here’s the proof…

So, we need to arrange a meeting where we can all decide how best to spend this money within the remits of the grant allowance. Myself and Stuart have a few suggestions of how we should proceed, with plans to include local schools and the CVS (Council for Voluntary Services) in Rochdale.

I’ll be in touch with you all very soon to find out what dates are good for people.

CVS

We’re officially a full member of the CVS in Rochdale, which allows us certain benefits. They can provide CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) checks on our members free of charge, if they would like one done, so that we can legally work with any minors who are interested in our project.

BANK ACCOUNT

The SHHS bank account has been set up. If any monies are to be removed from the account the application will need two signatures from the three. I have included a revised version of the constitution detailing this financial stipulation for you to update your records.

NEXT STEPS

We need to arrange a meeting!

All the very best

SHHS Secretary

Minutes 27th August 2009

Hello again.

Lots more information to report – all included below!

MINUTES

Our last meeting was at 16.00 on Friday 31^st July 2009.

In attendance: Apologies:

Stuart Mendelsohn                          Alan Marshall

Darren Hutchinson                          Margaret Clay

Kenneth Hall

Charlotte Kempin

Audrey Riches

Alan Schofield

Joyce Thora

Geraldine Walker

One new member and one new society interested in SHHS!

SHHS welcomes Geraldine Walker, Head of Archaeology and Ancient History at Oldham Sixth Form College. We thank her for her interest in our society and plan to approach some of her students to help us with the ground-work once we’ve got the relevant permissions and done the preliminary survey of the site at Hamer Hill.

We also thank the interest of Middleton Civic Society, and Audrey Riches who represented them at this meeting. AR commented that although she wouldn’t be interested in officially joining our society, the MCS are interested in collaborating on certain projects that will be mutually beneficial. DH is to send them a SHHS pack in the post so that they will further understand our aims.

AR suggested that we should apply to the township in Rochdale for initial funding so support running costs and expenses (MCS do this already – nominally £750 which allows them to pay for meetings, stationery etc.)

SM is in conversation with a representative regarding funding through the CBA and also mentioned that Rochdale has a specific funding person who we should contact to get funding. Pennine edge funding would also be applicable to our projects. He believes that if we make out a good case then we should be in a position to get funding to do a full survey and gain the relevant permissions to survey the site. He commented that it was about time the heritage in Rochdale was mentioned and funded as nobody has officially surveyed or recorded it as of yet.

If we are looking to get Pennine Edge funding (which is based in Hebden Bridge and Halifax) then we should put together a project of what we want to do, mentioning who is involved and the timescale. As agreed our first project is the stones on Hamer Hill.

In future we are looking to work with a local councillor once we have a treasurer. JT asked about what happened with this; SM said that we have approached them already but need to become an officially recognised and registered body before they will add their support.

JT to talk to MC about becoming treasurer and will report back.

JT asked about whom we have spoken to, SM has spoken to Jim Dobbin and Paul Rowen, but we need to have the society formed before they can be involved!

AS said we may need trustees to have a bank account and whether it was necessary to become a registered charity. Members commented on whether it is advisable to become a registered charity or if this is something we should look to do in the future, it was generally agreed that this should come later in proceedings if needed.

JT mentioned the money AM is holding and whether we can start a bank account with this.

SM has researched some medieval documents. His website includes documents from Chethams in Latin so people can study them in the near future. He is also in contact with a German man who is working on place-names around here. SM has website dedicated to these place-names.

AOB

• GW teaches A-Level students, and is struggling to do practical work because of the lack of sites to investigate, she is keen to enable students to participate in any archaeological survey we conduct.

• AS wants a small exhibition for the Whitworth Museum on the 12/13^th Sept. Mainly photos on a display board or table. SM to provide images, text and information taken from his blog. DH to provide VHS of footage we filmed last year.

• SM has a photocopy of some deeds from the John Rylands Library. Other libraries also have original documents. We can get hold of documents from Chethams for free, Manchester and Preston charge £5 for half a day and photocopying can be done there (www.archive.org in London also have a facility).

• CK and DH are to work on our website.

• KH, on the subject of Rochdale Online, mentioned about certain Councillors going on there and some of the content included the heritage of Rochdale and Middleton. He commented online on the stones and the Observer report but this was controversially taken off the site a couple of days later. We don’t know exactly why this happened as is was only generic content about how history should be preserved.

• As for the initial site visit – GW has a Dumpy Level which we should be able to get access to in order for us to do a more professional survey. AS and others agree that we need to do the preliminary survey as soon as we can gather equipment and people.

• SM mentioned that another contact of his, BH (who has a lot of experience working in the NW and knows a lot about the eccentricities of the region’s archaeology), also has site surveying geophysical equipment.

• GW is possibly up for education officer in the future. She has five students who will be interested in the project.

• DH handed out copies of the constitution to all members and will post out to members who weren’t in attendance. We will need everybody to read the constitution and, if they are in agreement, to sign a master copy.

NEXT STEPS

• Arrange the preliminary site visit!
• JT to speak to MC about possibly becoming the treasurer
• SM & DH to continue to apply for funding and official status
• DH to open bank account
• CK to offer advice about constructing website
• DH to post pack to Middleton Civic Society

Meeting ended 17.00

OTHER NEWS

A Lib Dem Councillor is interested in archaeology and also Pennine Edge projects. On the 22nd June SM spoke to the Councillor, he suggested contacting BM at Touchstones on the subject of an exhibition about the early history and archaeology of Rochdale. BM has created many projects at Link4Life, in her position as “Arts Development Officer”. SM has left her a message.

On the 23rd June SM spoke to a museum officer at Touchstones, he is interested in SHHS and in hosting a museum exhibition. We will chase this up.

As for funding – DH has had a meeting with Rochdale CVS (Council for Voluntary Service). We are now officially registered as a society and the CVS are currently searching for funding to allow us to commence our activities. We have been advised to apply to two funders; ‘Awards for All’ and the ‘Borough of Rochdale Fund’, DH to fill in relevant paperwork and set up a bank account. I will be in touch with any developments.

SM is continually researching place-names, medieval history of the area and contacting academics and professionals who may be able to help us further understand the significance of the area around Hamer Hill. All relevant findings will be passed on to SHHS members.

All the very best

Darren Hutchinson

SHHS Secretary

Minutes 2nd June 2009

Its only been a couple of days since our last meeting but I wanted you all to have the minutes and additional news as soon as possible.

Our last meeting was at 12.00 on Saturday 30^th May 2009.

In attendance:

Alan Marshall

Stuart Mendelsohn

Darren Hutchinson

Margaret Clay

Alan Schofield

Joyce Thora

Apologies:

Kenneth Hall

AM started the meeting by thanking the Whitworth Museum for allowing us the use of their facilities to hold these meetings, I’m sure I can speak for everyone when I say we are all extremely grateful.

We have a potential future new member – CG from Middleton. AM noticed a piece he wrote in the Rochdale Observer and complemented him on bringing attention to the church in Middleton. CG then rang AM and mentioned he may be interested in joining our society. DH to officially contact CG to provide information and invite him to our next meeting.

We then discussed whether we were in favour of the new name for the society, a majority vote decided to keep it

AM mentioned whether it was worth DH and SM joining the CBA, the response was that it may not directly help us but it will do no harm and could help make the society more widely recognised.

It was agreed that we should form a mission of intent, and the following aims of the society were agreed upon, with the need to apply them to each individual project:

The Salford Hundred Heritage Society aims to:

1. Increase awareness of and protect the archaeological and historical heritage of the area.
2. Promote ethics in all activities associated with the historic environment.
3. Produce educational and reference material in a variety of media (video, on-line and printed material).
4. Promote the area by increasing awareness and respect for the historic environment.
5. Work with and help promote other organisations involved in ethical research into the historic environment.
6. Help others to record, protect and publish/display this archaeological/historical heritage.

It was highlighted that our society is going to be focussed on providing results, as opposed to other societies, which concentrate on giving people a historical day out with no action being taken. We all agreed that we need to contribute as much as possible, as individuals as well as a group, to achieve our goals. SM pointed out that there will a lot of fieldwork and research needed, in both archaeological and historical areas.

Our next subject matter concentrated on whether we should form a committee.

There were concerns as to whether people will actually contribute to this society, but each individual stressed their desire to contribute so it was agreed that we should move forward confidently.

DH will contact the farmer responsible for the land on Hamer Hill and ask if she is interested in becoming more officially involved once our constitution has been adopted by all.

AS pointed out that it will take time to sort through what is required to set up a society of this size, and whether we should consider including more people. An option for ‘part-time’ membership was put forward, where people could come in on an ad-hoc basis if necessary and we can draw on their skills and experience in each individual project. This suggestion was welcomed by the society.

AM stated that we would need 3 officers, including a treasurer, to make it official – and then we can invite other people, with no set number of members required. He also mentioned that J from Touchstones probably wouldn’t be interested in being involved as he has so much on his plate. AS agreed with the point that if we’re going to apply for funding in the future then we will need a treasurer. DH mentioned we will eventually need a bank account.

With regards the Hamer Hill site:

SM reminded us that the conservation officer has visited the site and the conversation then steered towards the fact that the whole point in local archaeology is that it is supposed to be community focussed, therefore only good for anyone who is interested in being involved.

AM pointed out that SM has taken people up there a few times but the site isn’t too accessible for some members and a 4-wheel vehicle will be needed. Access needs arranging. One possible solution could be asking the farmer how she has access to the site, and seeing if we could possibly utilise some of her transport. We agreed that this may be a little too much to ask of her for now, and we should source our own transport.

The survey:

The first step is a preliminary survey. SM offered the use of a Mercedes van with high clearance, DH offered the use of scaffolding and possibly a van, although it may not have high clearance.

SM proposed that we need to grid the area out. Equipment needed (and provided by SM) will be – measuring tape, pole, camera, gps (or similar), board and permatrace tracing paper. AM will be providing a compass and pole. SM may also bring additional equipment.

The gridding of the site should be in 1m increments, AM commented that photographing the site should be a secondary investigation. SM also suggested that we need to prod the surface with a suitable pole to discover whether there are any other stones under the surface.

We discussed the need to hire a vehicle to get us up to the site, AM suggested we use the £22 he has from the previous Rochdale Heritage Society to help us fund this, and a majority vote agreed. Vehicle hire will be around £40 for the day so members were encouraged to contribute to cover the outstanding amount. DH will look into vehicle hire and report back. DH also to contact Mrs Stewart about the visit.

It was agreed that the site visit will be Monday 8^th June and DH will contact members about arrangements. AM and SM disagreed on the methods of surveying, but will each provide their own equipment. SM added that the site has been visited from a person from the local geographical society and there is no way it is a quarry.

SM discussed the two main ways of surveying the site: 1. Reference points needed 2. Grid 1m squares, photograph and draw to scale. No scaffold needed in this instance.

So it was widely accepted that the next steps are the constitution (which DH will read, adapt and send out) and the site visit for a survey.

AOB

• DH mentioned putting the society on the map (details further on in the newsletter). AS mentioned putting it in the newspaper.

• DH will be the public relations manager – everything media related to go directly through myself.

• SM mentioned we should send condolences to the chairman of the Littleborough society who has recently died. AM mentioned having a representative from the society, individuals to decide whether they would like to attend.

• SM mentioned his blog site: http://salfordhundred.wordpress.com/

• SM trying to find out more about local place names

• Postage costs covered by DH, DH thanked for being the greatest secretary in the history of world societies (words to that effect).

• SM asked to do a small exhibition in the museum – SM to send them photos over the next month.

• Meeting ended 13.35

OTHER NEWS

IMPORTANT CHANGE OF PLANS – The site visit has been postponed and will now not take place on Monday 8^th June. Members will be contacted soon and a new date will be agreed upon.

Stuart has an appointment with an MP regarding the site on Tuesday 9^th June at Westminster. His aims are raising awareness of the site and potential future funding. I will provide you all with details of this meeting.

Stuart is still waiting to hear back from Natural England regarding applying for a community archaeology grant. Once again I will inform you of any developments.

I would like to ask you all to think of ways of putting our society on the map. You will all have contacts who may be able to help us, and ideas of how we can be more formally recognized by the community and any suggestions will be followed up. Please put a lot of thought into how we can affectively promote our society, bearing in mind that our current funding stands at £22 and this has already been allocated to a 4×4 vehicle!!!

Stuart sent me the drawings below detailing how the mapped out survey of the stones will look, this will give you a good idea of how our completed survey will look: After visiting the site, a member of the British Geological Survey did not see the stones as quarrying or random.

Many thanks, Darren Hutchinson

Minutes 13th May 2009

Hi Everyone!

Hope you like our new logo! I wanted to take this opportunity to update you all with recent activity and work that needs to be done.

So here’s the news in an easy to digest format…

CBA

Stuart and myself have joined the North West branch of the CBA (Council for British Archaeology), which will aid us in applying for grants in the future. It also puts us ‘on the map’ as a genuine society and will hopefully give us a certain amount of gravitas. If you would also like to join, let me know and I’ll let you know how.

The CBA are going to help us with future grant applications and guide us towards the best way of achieving our goals.

We have also been in contact with the NW CBA.

OWNERSHIP OF LAND

The area to the West of Rooley Moor Road is owned by United Utilities. Although this is not of our immediate concern as we are focussing on Hamer Hill, where the stones are situated, we thought it useful to find out as much about the area as possible. UU are interested in the history of the Naden site, which I believe they weren’t previously aware of, and are keen to survey it.

Stuart has also asked the Lord of the Manor’s agent, to request a viewing of their Medieval deeds.

TOUCHSTONES

Stuart has contacted Touchstones in Rochdale but they don’t have documents old enough to help us with the ‘mysterious stones’.

Here’s what they said:

The only very old documents we have probably don’t go back far enough for you.   These are in the Archives under Markets and are a Will of Joseph Dearden, mentioning property in Rochdale, dated 15 Dec 1682, and a Schedule of Deeds & Documents, Rochdale new Market, 1637-1936 [these are not broken down in any way].

Rochdale was granted a Royal Charter to hold a market in 1251 and the Charter itself is at the Public Record Office as far as we are aware.  We have no other information prior to this.

Rochdale became a Borough in 1832 when it elected its first MP and was incorporated as a Municipal Borough in 1856.

WHO ELSE IS INTERESTED?

We have contacted the farmer who occupies the area where the stones are situated. She is happy for us to do whatever we need on the site (within reason of course!) and will help if she can, she also mentioned that she may come to our next meeting.

Friends of Healey Dell (www.healeydell.org.uk) have recently received funding from the National Lottery and is happy to help us in future bids, or even a joint funding bid, if needs be. FoHD are also happy to help in any way they can if it means preserving Rochdale’s history and making our hometown a better place to live, which I’m sure is our goal too!

Natural England has been contacted and he will draft an e-mail to help us with applying for a community archaeology grant. Please type in this extremely long web address for further information:

http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/landscape/protection/historiccultural/default.aspx

MORE RESEARCH INFORMATION

Colour and old B&W aerial photos of the area can be found here:

http://mario.lancashire.gov.uk/

Stuart’s other archaeology blog is here:

http://lancsarchaeology.wordpress.com/

SO WHAT DO WE DO NEXT?

The next step is to do a survey of the site before our next meeting, so that we have something to report. I’m sure you’re all happy with having meetings when there is actually something to discuss rather than just getting together every month (if you disagree please let me know – we can have them whenever you all want!).

Volunteers are required to photograph and visually survey the site so that we have a comprehensive idea of what is actually there. I will be in attendance and we need a photographer who is not afraid of heights as we are planning on capturing the images from either on top of a scaffold (which we have access to) or maybe even a tractor bucket (yes we are poor and needs must…)! If you are interested in being involved, or know someone who is, then please let me know – we will then set a date. Hopefully one of you is a keen photographer or knows someone who is – but we also need people to survey the ground.

Stuart is going to build a magnetometer, which should give us an idea of what is under the soil – but the visual survey needs to be done first.

AIMS OF THE SOCIETY

The Salford Hundred Heritage Society aims to:

1. Increase awareness of and protect the archaeological and historical heritage of the area.
2. Promote ethics in all activities associated with the historic environment.
3. Produce educational and reference material in a variety of media (video, on-line and printed material).
4. Promote the area by increasing awareness and respect for the historic environment.
5. Work with and help promote other organisations involved in ethical research into the historic environment.
6. Help others to record, protect and publish/display this archaeological/historical heritage.

WEBSITE AND CONTACT DETAILS

We have bought the domain www.salfordhundred.co.uk – currently there is a very basic holding page until we develop it further. Just having a web ‘base’ allows us to display our contact details and the aims of the group, which will also aid us in future funding attempts.

We can be contacted via the following email addresses:

darren@salfordhundred.co.uk

stuart@salfordhundred.co.uk

If any of you would like a salfordhundred.co.uk email address then please email me your email address and I will allocate you an address. If you are technologically advanced and understand how popboxes and passwords work then you can also set yourself up an Outlook Express (or similar) email account from your own computer which will allow you to send and receive from this email address (I will provide you with access details). If not then any emails sent to your salfordhundred.co.uk email address will be directed towards your personal email account and this is how you will receive them.

Inaugural Meeting

Welcome to the newly formed ‘Salford Hundred Heritage Society’, dedicated to understanding and protecting historical sites within the local area once referred to as ‘Salford Hundred’ (covering the areas including Rochdale Middleton Manchester Prestwich Bury and other localities).

The group was formed on the 14^th March 2009 during a meeting at Whitworth Museum.

Members include:

Founder:     Stuart Mendelsohn

Chairman:  Alan Marshall

Secretary:   Darren Hutchinson

Margaret Clay

Kenneth Hall

Alan Schofield

Joyce Thora

As no official minutes were recorded at the inaugural meeting, a summary of events follows:

A proposition was made by Stuart Mendelsohn to form an official society, allowing people with a shared interest in local history to actively do something to preserve the past for the benefit of current and future generations. The creation of the group will allow us to properly study certain sites, with the potential to apply for funding for further study and preservation.

Several sites were mentioned including Hamer Hill, Copped Hill, Naden Head, Hunger Hill, and a number of features throughout the ‘Ding’ locality. It is our intention to feature the stone alignment on Hamer Hill as our main focus area, other sites will be studied as side projects if time and resources allow.

It was agreed that the society would be formed and a basic strategy for further research on Hamer Hill was proposed:

1. Record all visual evidence at the site
2. Piece together the gathered information
3. If the initial studies are promising, apply for funding to further the investigation
4. If further investigations reveal an area of historical significance, attempt to get the area protected or scheduled

All members will be notified of work we need to carry out and invited to contribute in whichever way they prefer.

Salford Hundred Heritage Society (SHHS)

Hamer Hill Stone 1

Hamer Hill Stone 2

Cairn on Rooley Moor