News - Priories Historical Society AGM 2011

The Priories Historical Society's AGM was last night.

Annual membership will be kept at the excellent price of just £5 per year including £1 off every meeting attended and the free magazine.

Details of the 2011-2012 committee:

Chairperson: Alan Gisbourne

Vice Chairpersons: Fiona Green/Pauline Haslehurst

Treasurer: Maureen Broadhurst
Secretary: Pam Cook

Editor/Publicity: David Cook

Metal Detecting: Alan Gisbourne

Other Committee Members: Sarah Perry/

News – Priories Historical Society new committee members (Oldcotes)

The Priories Historical Society are proud to announce that we have a new Chairperson; Maureen Broadhead, previously the Vice-Chairperson, will be taking over the reins with immediate effect.

Alan Gisbourne has now become the Vice Chairperson.

Event - Local Area History Group's Heritage Fair (Creswell Crags)

Priories Historical Society will be attending the Local Area History Groups Heritage Fair on 1^st October 2011.  We’ll be selling books as well as creating a display for the event.  Last year it was held at the Turbine Centre in Shireoaks and was a great success.

The event opens at 08.30 and car parking for the general public will be in the La Farge car park with shuttle buses transporting the public on-site.

News - Creswell Crags cave art site gets cash boost

Ice Age cave art site Creswell Crags is to be given a £38,000 boost from Derbyshire County Council.

The prehistoric attraction on the border of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire has also been nominated as a World Heritage Site.

Creswell Crags, a series of limestone caves occupied between 50,000 and 10,000 years ago, has produced numerous tools and unique rock art.

A site spokesman said the money will be used to help run its visitor centre.

The site is recognised as an important European place of cultural, archaeological and scientific interest.

From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-12938363

News - Work starts on Sutton war memorial (Sutton-in-Ashfield)

ASHFIELD will finally get a new war memorial to its fallen heroes this summer as work starts after a long campaign.

Around five years of work came to a head on Monday as the first sod was cut at the site of the new monument, on the corner of Mansfield Road and Unwin Road in Sutton.

Campaign group Friends of Ashfield War Memorials raised around £25,000 to get the memorial built.

Said group treasurer Maria Kerry: “It was a marvellous feeling to see the work finally start.

“The campaign has been going on for years but we are finally getting there.”

Recognising British service personnel killed during conflict since 1914, the completed monument will feature an obelisk and garden.

It will be officially unveiled with a special ceremony in June.

On Monday group members and local people who have donated cash to the scheme saw NMC Nomenca, part of the Huthwaite-based North Midland Construction group, start work.

The company is among firms offering their services for free to get the monument built, while local councillors have also given thousands of pounds in funding towards the scheme.

Added Mrs Kerry: “The memorial itself is done, the railings are being finished and the plaques are done, we can’t wait for it to be ready.”

From: http://www.chad.co.uk/news/local/work_starts_on_sutton_war_memorial_1_3156874

News - English Heritage Sites to be Closed during Winter Weekdays

English Heritage announced today that most of its sites will be closed during winter weekdays due to government funding cutbacks.  This will affect 62 properties.  I’ve e-mailed them to get a list of those in the South Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire areas where this occurring.

Dave C

News - Archaeologists look to protect rare prehistoric site (Farndon)

A group of amateur archaeologists are hoping to help protect a rare prehistoric site in Nottinghamshire.

 

They are bidding for funding to further investigate the fields around Farndon, where archaeologists have unearthed hundreds of Ice Age flint tools.

 

Professional archaeologist Daryl Garton is supporting Farndon Archaeological Research Investigations' bid.

 

"There isn't another site in Britain of the same age and with this spread of activity," she said.

 

"It's incredibly important." The prehistoric site was discovered during field walks carried out prior to the road widening of the A46 between Newark and Widmerpool.

Daryl was involved with the initial work for the Highways Agency.

 

She said: "There were about 330 surface finds but that was just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

 

"There will be lots more in the ploughed soil, hopefully left intact."

 

It is believed that the site was that of a camp, or several camps, where hunters would process kills after hunting animals, perhaps of herds such as wild horses and red deer migrating across the River Trent.

 

Farndon Archaeological Research Investigations (FARI) are bidding for £50,000 of Heritage Lottery Funding to be used over three years.

 

With this they hope to do more field walks, dig several test pits and carry out scientific tests they would otherwise not be able to afford.

 

Anne Coyne, from FARI, said the funding would be good, not only for archaeologists but also for the area. "It's like ancient family history, studying how our ancestors lived in the past," she said.

 

"It would be great to put Newark on the map in terms of prehistory."

 

As important as work in the field, FARI plans to communicate the importance of the site to the public, through talks and displays.

 

"Eventually what we'd like to do is put on a permanent display of the finds at the local museum at Newark for people to view for future generations," Anne added.

FARI are expecting to finalise their application by the end of March and hope to hear from Heritage Lottery Fund a few months later. They hope to start work in the summer of 2011.

 

Farndon Archaeological Research Investigations are putting on a series of events at Newark Library in February 2011. On 15 February professional archaeologist Daryl Garton will give a talk about the finds so far unearthed near the village. Between 17-19 February there will be a display of the original artefacts and on 19 February families can enjoy an archaeological craft activity, building a replica, edible, stone henge. For more information call FARI on 01636 616 640.

 

In Nottinghamshire there are only a handful of archaeological remains that date from the Palaeolithic time period

 

Fardon Field's location is unusual because prehistoric tools are usually found in protected environments such as caves not open fields

 

The flint tools found were used about 13,000 years ago for processing animal carcasses, scraping them out to make pelts for clothing.

They have been found spread over a huge area equivalent to 21 football pitches 

Archaeologists say the people who made the flint tools at Farndon might conceivably be the same people that made the cave paintings of bison and birds at Creswell Crags

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/nottingham/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_9391000/9391437.stm

Talk - Lost Historical Houses - Priories Historical Society (Oldcotes)

Just to confirm tomorrows meeting at Oldcotes Village hall will be going ahead.  The hall is currently having an new roof fitted and being redecorated so may not look its best.

talk start at 19.30. Entrance is £3 for non-members or £2 for members. Membership £5 per year and includes a free copy of the magazine we publish three times a year.

Just to remind everyone that the next issue of the magazine is due out in April.  If you wish to publish an article please e-mail us at Priorieshistoricalsociety(at)rocketmail.com or hand them in at the desk (I'll not be there tomorrow).  If sending documents via Microsoft Word  (or equivalent) please send them in .doc format.

Cheers 

Dave Cook

News - Save Doncaster Libraries - Latest blog offering

Doncaster has a Borough Strategy, which the council describe as "the key long-term document for improving quality of life in Doncaster". It calls for "mutual support, community structures, and civic pride".

The town already has severe problems with educational attainment, literacy, employment, health, crime and poverty. More people are out of work and claiming Job-Seekers Allowance in Doncaster compared to the national average (Doncaster’s Borough Strategy 2010-2015). Crime rates are higher than the national average (Doncaster’s Borough Strategy 2010-2015).

More and more people will soon find themselves redundant and with more financial problems. Libraries are needed and used more in times of recession and economic difficulty. (see this article from the Wall Street Journal, too).

The council and the people of Doncaster would benefit from community hubs which offer things like:

• Urgent help and advice on how to search for jobs, update CVs and survive the cuts;
• Careers workshops;
• Counselling services;
• Free access to books, cds, dvds, online databases, encyclopaedias etc. for recreation and learning;
• Free access to audiobooks (books on tape), ebooks, accessibility software, Braille services etc. for disabled and elderly people. These are often too expensive for people to buy and are not readily available in shops;
• Free access to the internet, which particularly helps the 30+ per cent of people in Doncaster who don't have access at home. This would help the council to tackle the digital divide;
• Homework clubs and support from library staff, for all children but especially those who benefit from out-of-school learning and can't easily study at home due to space or living situations;
• Library resources that aren't available in schools (school libraries are not statutory and many look set to close in the next couple of years).

When you look at the Mayor's priorities, and compare them with the ways in which libraries across the world benefit societies, it becomes even more apparent that he has no idea what libraries do. If he did understand, he'd be prioritising libraries just as much as he says he does old people's services and other services, just as more than twenty other councils are. And seeing as he clearly has no clue, how can he have the right to destroy a service he admits he's never used?

Many councils across the country are using library services to support council priorities. For example, Haringey libraries are to become community hubs, better promoting the services they already provide, such as: health check sessions; help for small businesses; drop-in sessions and lunch clubs for older people; and a range of activities for children.

So how could this be done in Doncaster? And how could it help the Mayor?

1. It's a well-known fact that library use improves literacy. It only makes sense that reading more helps you read better...but we also have proof that this is the case: the National Literacy Trust has found that children who use libraries are twice as likely to have a higher than average reading age. Surely this is something that the Mayor would support? Alas, the Mayor said on You & Yours on BBC Radio 4 a few days ago that the idea that libraries support literacy is untrue! Well, if perhaps he'd admit he's wrong on that count, maybe libraries could help him in his aim to"improve services for children and young people". Libraries are a very cheap way of supporting every single child in Doncaster. It's not just about children in care, it's about the life chances of all children, which are known to be very limited in this area.
2. The Mayor is "keen that Doncaster offers all its residents the opportunity to improve their skills and realise their ambitions". A laudable aim that libraries in their very nature support. In a meeting with Bawtry residents last week, the Mayor told a little girl that if she wanted to improve her literacy she should do it at school. This is all well and good, but what about adults who need to improve their literacy? There are many adults in Doncaster whose employment opportunities are severely limited due to low levels of literacy, and library resources such as specialist books for adults learning to read and improve their reading are the perfect way to offer people the "opportunity to improve their skills". Doncaster engages in the government's Adult, Family and Community Learning courses, so many of which could be supported by libraries at no extra cost to the library service - local history, family history, DIY, gardening, drawing skills, sugarcraft, learning languages, healthy cookery, art...what better way than to apply some joined-up thinking to services and make it even clearer that libraries offer residents the "opportunity to release their skills and realise their ambitions"?
3. The Mayor "wants to ensure residents with learning disabilities are accepted as people in their own right in their local communities". In the majority of Doncaster communities, libraries are the only community space left. If they close (which it is highly likely they will because the council has no idea if and how volunteers will run the services that they are no longer willing to provide) there will be nowhere left for people to go where they will meet a mix of people from all backgrounds and of all ages and abilities. Bawtry and Wheatley libraries for example,  are used weekly by children with learning disabilities, who love the libraries and their staff and will be absolutely devastated when they have this access taken away. When there is nowhere for people to mix, residents with learning disabilities will be more isolated and marginalised by communities.
4. The Mayor wants to let the world know that "Doncaster is ‘open for business’". One of the things that businesses take into account when looking at new locations for sites is 'quality of life' in the area, which includes community facilities and library services. By removing branch libraries and removing the new central library from the plans for Doncaster's £300 million Civic and Cultural Quarter, the council is shooting itself in the foot if they want business in Doncaster to improve. Closing libraries will have an impact on existing businesses, because when people visit a library they may also pop to the local shops. When the library goes and they have to use the central library, they're far less likely to do this - especially if they have to walk all the way across town from the bus station to the central library with a pile of books.
5. The Mayor wants to protect the environment from developers, decay and architectural vandalism. What better way to help this along than to provide a place in every community where people can go to learn about the cultural heritage of Doncaster, access specialist books about environmental issues, and find out how they can get involved in challenging developers' plans? Unfortunately, in an ironic twist, it appears that Bawtry and Rossington libraries will be sold off to make way for new developments.
6. The Mayor wants to "reduce crime and end all forms of anti-social behaviour". A lot of his work has focussed on punishment, but what about nipping any potential problems in the bud before people are inconvenienced and upset by poor behaviour? Allowing children the opportunity to use a library and be involved in creative and productive activities helps break cycles of destructive behaviour. Neighbourhood Police Teams already use libraries as places people can go to speak to them about dealing with problems in the community, and anti-social behaviour could be one of the topics. In terms of reducing crime, public library use is strongly linked to reducing re-offending.
7. The Mayor says he "remain[s] firmly of the belief that councils should provide residents with efficient and value for money services that make the borough a better place to live for all of us". The consultancy report conducted by a libraries expert cost upwards of £15,000. The council are now ignoring the recommendations made, including many measures to make the service more efficient, and instead have chosen to remove funding from 14 libraries and offer communities the chance to run them. This is the easy way out for the council, but does not guarantee that the service that is left will be efficient or value for money. It especially won't be value for money for council tax payers who will still be paying £18 a year for public libraries, when there is no longer one in their area.

As the leader of the council, the Mayor has a duty to serve the residents of Doncaster. He says "The council is the servant of the public, not its master." We'd like the Mayor to honour this assertion and listen to the 14,000+ residents of Doncaster who have already told him that the cuts he is making to Doncaster libraries are not acceptable. We'd like him to look at the resources linked to from this article and think about the role of libraries.  We'd like the council to look at the impact that the disproportionate and ill-planned cuts will have to library services and the people of Doncaster. There is still time to do this, and it is absolutely unacceptable that it has not already been done.

Originally posted on the Save Doncaster Libraries blog: http://savedoncasterlibraries.wordpress.com/2011/02/10/mayor/

Museum plan (Worksop)

the future of one of Worksop’s most iconic buildings could be in danger if no one comes forward to give it a new lease of life.  The old library on Memorial Avenue currently houses the tourist information office and the council’s CCTV suite.  But much of it stands empty since the library services moved next door to the new community hub.

Last summer, Bassetlaw Council invited anyone wanting to lease the 72-year-old building to express an interest. But the response was limited.“Many people think it should revert to its original purpose as a museum,” said Trevor Dolby, chairman of Shireoaks Local History Group.  On behalf of history groups across Bassetlaw, he submitted an application to the council to transform the building into the Centre for Worksop and West Bassetlaw History. 

“We’d like to take over part of the building and bring back some of the exhibits that are at Retford museum,” said Mr Dolby.  “Worksop’s heritage is in mining and Retford’s is agricultural. Our exhibits should be here for local people to see,” he said.

He said if successful, some displays and cabinets could be moved from Retford. But the big problem is funding. The library building is too big and expensive for the history groups to lease alone.“It needs someone to take on a large part of it on a commercial footing,” he said.  “This is not going to happen unless there is a commitment from a commercial sponsor.”  “The building is very close to the public’s heart, we wouldn’t want to see it demolished.”

A spokesman for Bassetlaw Council said the building’s future is due to be discussed by Cabinet members in March. No announcements will be made before then.  Carl Andrews, an architect with Gateford based Soul Architects, surveyed the building for Bassetlaw Council.  He said: “The building is in quite a poor condition and becoming more and more vulnerable.”  He estimated repairs – including re-roofing – could cost around £300,000.  “The council was keen for it to be a restaurant or function room, but a museum would also be viable,” he said. “But it all comes down to money. What Worksop doesn’t want is a building of that size standing vacant.” 

“It’s a fantastic property, of significant historical interest and it deserves to have a use that Worksop people can enjoy.”

From: http://www.worksopguardian.co.uk/news/local-news/museum_plan_1_2923670

Monday 17th January Talk Details

THE NORTHERN BRIGANTINE TRACKWAY, AND HOW IT PASSES THROUGH THE RIVERS OF THE IDLE; TORNE; DON; DEARNE; OUSE; & AIRE by Kenneth Elliff

Ancient man, ancient Britain and the Roman invasion of the kingdom of the Brigantes. The trackway that led to the killing fields of the Humber line: from Vikings, Saxons and Normans and why the ‘harrying of the north’ took place. The Geographical Gateway through the Gap of the Don.

Oldcotes Village Hall 19:30 Members Entry £2, Non-members Entry £3.

Probably further section of Roman road in Doncaster

Report from the Star on 15th November, this is probably the road called 'Via Militaris Antonines' on the 1849 maps of Doncaster:

A DONCASTER man has turned Time Team detective to unearth a possible Roman road – just a spear's throw away from where he plays golf.

Geoff Halstead was inspired to make a detailed search for the stretch of road dating from the Roman occupation of Doncaster – then known as Danum – after reading articles in a local history magazine.

The Bessacarr resident has been a long-standingmember of Doncaster Golf Club on Bawtry Road, and knew of a club legend that such a road ran across the site of the golf course at a spot known as Warren Wood.

Two of the club's holes used to be positioned near the wood but were abandoned when the course was redesigned after the M18 motorway cut through it in the 1970s.

Although there were no records of a Roman road crossing the golf course, Mr Halstead decided to have a closer look and found a substantial bank lined with trees that reminded him of the 'aggers' described in Geoff and June Bennetts' local history magazine, The Cantley and Bessacarr Journal.

With their help, and with images from Google Earth, Mr Halstead and the Bennetts were able to use a row of trees as a marker to show it was directly in line with a route stretching to an old Roman fort on the banks of the River Torne near Rossington.

Mr Halstead said: "Years and years ago I can remember Maurice Birkett, a former professional at the club, referring to a Roman road and he said a certain bank was the remains of it.

"It was only when I looked for it that I realised the agger was there across one of the old fairways.

"I thought Geoff and June had not mentioned this in their research so I mentioned it to them when I bumped into them at the local library.

"They were very interested and we researched it together. Although it had been known about before I am pleased it has been rediscovered and brought to the attention of the wider public, although there's not much to see of the road now."

Mr Bennett said they had previously established that part of Bawtry Road was part of the course of the main Roman Military Road to Doncaster.

"A Roman road usually consists of a raised bank with a ditch on either side. Once the road goes out of use and is no longer maintained, the ditches fill up with soil over the years.

"If Geoff Halstead's bank is actually the remains of a Roman agger then the trees have probably grown along the lines of the two ditches."

The Bennetts and Mr Halstead are hoping archaeologists who have been mapping the nearby Manor Farm site will also take a closer look at Warren Wood after project manager Paula Ware confirmed she also believed it was a Roman bank.

http://www.thestar.co.uk/doncaster/Now-golfer-hoping-to-dig.6626373.jp

A bumper chance to explain enigma of the lump From the Yorkshire Post

Many thanks to Terry (Regina Theresa) for finding this for us from the Yorkshire Post, I've e-mailed Community Archaeology for further details:

FOR centuries an inconspicuous bump in the ground has lain, unexplained, in the depths of Sherwood Forest.

But now, archaeologists from across the country are hoping to shed light on what could be one of the region's most mysterious – and most significant – ancient monuments.

Three years ago the Forestry Commission revealed that the Friends of Thynghowe group had found a Viking meeting place – known as a "Thing" – in the Birklands, near Worksop.

Such sites, of which there are only a handful in the British Isles, are thought to have been used in the Dark Ages as a landmark where people came together to resolve disputes.

Andrew Norman, from the Forestry Commission, which manages the Birklands, said: "What was once just a bump in the ground has now got lots of people excited up and down the country."

The earthen mound known as Thynghowe, which was first noticed on 19th century maps and then later identified through trawling the woodland landscape, has now been listed on English Heritage's National Monument Record.

New studies have also found the name Thynghowe in an ancient Sherwood Forest book dated to around the 1200s. However, more research is needed to understand the site's mysterious story.

As a result, Nottinghamshire County Council's community archaeology team is set to carry out a topographical survey of the hill in the New Year, after the Friends of Thynghowe made a successful bid for council funding.

At the same time, University College London plans to undertake a magnetometry survey, which can detect buried archaeology by registering anomalies in the earth's magnetic field.

The academics became involved after hearing about the Sherwood Forest site at a conference on Viking sites in Shetland and Orkney earlier this year, which was attended by representatives from the Friends of Thynghowe group.

Mr Norman added: "This is a major effort to unravel more of its secrets."

Thynghowe was discovered five years ago by husband and wife team Lynda Mallett and Stuart Reddish, along with their friend John Wood, who all live in the village of Rainworth.

Ms Mallett said: "My husband and myself own a woodland in Sherwood Forest. A 19th century document came into our hands which described a walk around Sherwood Forest, taking people around a very important boundary.

"We transcribed it and realised this went through our wood and all the way through Birklands as well. We asked the Forestry Commission if we could then go into Birklands and find anything mentioned in this 1816 document,

"One of the most significant places was a place called Hanger Hill, which is described as having two boundary stones and a stone on it. There were also apparently quite a lot of celebrations which took place there.

"When we did our research, having found this place in and amongst all of the trees, we realised Hanger Hill was also a place called Thynghowe, which is a Viking assembly site."

It is thought that Thynghowe may have marked the boundary between the Anglo Saxon kingdoms of Mercia and Northumberland. However, it may date back much further, as "howe" is a term often used to indicate a prehistoric burial place.

Ms Mallett said Thynghowe could date back 4,000 years – which would make it one of the most important sites not only in the region, but in Britain. She said: "It's a highly, highly significant place in Sherwood Forest and a national rarity.

"There are other 'Things' in Britain, but most of them you can't find a written record of. In this case we've found a written record dating back to the 1200s.

"Also, most 'Things' you can't actually see, because they've been built over or they're on private property. With ours, you can actually stand on it and look around and see some of the landscape that was there way, way back in the past."

To shed light on Thynghowe's history, archaeologists are set to arrive in January and analyse mysterious ancient stones in the area, which could be part of the complex or even predate it.

Ms Mallet said: "We need to bring this to national attention and find out as much as we can about this site.

"The more we can find out about it, the more chance we have of making it a scheduled monument, which gives it the highest level protection that we can get.

"We want to make sure local people know all about it. If this site has 4,000 years of history, there certainly isn't another site in Sherwood Forest as significant as this – and everyone in the world has heard of Sherwood Forest.

"To have a site in Sherwood Forest that is of this age, and that is still here, is really quite amazing."

http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/A-bumper-chance-to-explain.6616462.jp

The Friends of Thynghowe website is located at http://www.thynghowe.org.uk/index.html