Wessington and Brackenfield Archaeological Project

Wessington and Brackenfield Archaeological Project

I am hoping to start a project to look at and record the archaeological landscapes of the parishes of Wessington and Brackenfield, Derbyshire with a view to writing either an article or book. Recently I have done some walking in the Wessington and Brackenfield area and have been amazed at the level of surviving archaeological features in the landscape including ancient pollared trees, hedgerows that are many hundreds of years old, evidence of medieval ridge and furrow and so much more. It is my view that there is a very fine landscape dating from at least the medieval period preserved in the fields, hills and valleys of these parishes.

Local Involvement

I want to involve local people as in the project, doing fieldwork and historical research to discover as much as possible about these ancient parishes. I believe that in order to run this project effectively that a committee of local people should provide the leadership and overall management of the project by doing things like developing and focusing the research strategy and directing volunteer resources to achieve its aims.

How it might work

I envisage that this project would be done over the course of a year or so in organised batches of fieldwork designed to maximise volunteer input and to cover the ground in a targeted fashion. Eventual publication, depending on the size of the archive and results generated might be as an article in a regional or national journal, a book or both. This/these piece(s) of work would be co-authored and contributed to by key members of the team.

I will act as 'field-director' teaching skills and co-ordinating fieldwork whilst the committee, acting on behalf of the project would provide administrative back-up.

The job of the committee and field-director would be to source funding for fieldwork (excavation etc.) specialised input (dendro-dating or C14 dating), building specialists and so on as well as for the final publication of results. Potential sources of funding are the Derbyshire Archaeological Society, the Council for British Archaeology (CBA) and the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Who am I?

Barry Lewis BA(Hons) MA FRGS

I am a professional archaeologist working with Trent & Peak Archaeological Unit based in the University of Nottingham, I live in Belper but own some land and stables in Wessington Parish (hence my recent interest in the landscapes of the Wessington and Brackenfield).

I want to do this project for a number of reasons but here are a few:

1) To preserve by record the unique landscapes of these parishes

2) To eventually publish the results of the work

3) To inform and educate all people, particularly local people and local government about the history of the landscape and what should be done to protect it for the future.

What Next?

I want people to contact me in the first instance to see what level of interest there is for such a project. The kinds of people needed at this stage are people who are good organisers, or who have been involved in committees or are interested in being involved in this project and its early organisation. Also required are people who want to take part in fieldwork and recording of the landscape etc.

I suggest that the first meeting is at an informal venue the Three Horse Shoes in Wessington at a time and date to announced.

I can be contacted on:

wessington.country@gmail.com

Visit my business site at www.peakdistrict-tours.co.uk