Merseyside Archaeological Society
MAS Field Trips
From time to time Merseyside Archaeological Society arranges weekend trips to sites of archaeological or historical interest.
In April 2009 there was a weekend visit to Roman villa sites in the Cotswolds. Based in Cheltenham, members visited Great Witcombe, Spoonley Wood and Chedworh Villa sites and Corinium museum, home of one of the best collections of Roman mosaics in the country. Other sites visited ranged from the prehistoric Crickley Hill Neolithic and Iron Age hill top site and Belas Knap Neolithic tomb to the Viking era churches of St Mary’s and Oda’s chapel at Deerhurst and the medieval remains of Hailes Abbey.
The Society is planning a visit to Orkney in 2011 which will last several days. Further details will be made available here. If you would like to express an interest in going on this trip, please contact the Events Secretary, Julia McLaughlin Cook, at estcarp@hotmail.co.uk.
Please download the booking form below and send it to the address printed at the top of the page.
| MAS Field Trip Booking Form (PDF) |
Saturday
14th
May Kendal town
Situated
on the river Kent in South Lakeland, Kendal has been an important
settlement for 2000 years. The Romans built a fort at Watercrook
(Alauna) a few miles south of the town. In the Middle Ages Kendal
was a centre for cloth weaving, leather-working and horn working
and the family home of Katherine Parr, the sixth wife of Henry the
Eighth.
Our guide will be Pat Hovey, the secretary of Kendal Civic Society, who will take us to the remains of the castle and the 18th-century canal in the morning. In the afternoon she will lead another guided walk round some of the many well-preserved buildings and yards that run down to the river. For those who do not want to walk so far, the coach will park at Kirkland, where you will find the Abbot Hall Art Gallery, the Museum of Lakeland Life and the 800-year-old parish church of the Holy Trinity.
Terrain:
hilly, grassy in the morning. Pavement in the afternoon, some steep
climbs.
Saturday
18th
June Ribchester and the Ribble Valley
Ribchester
was Roman Bremetenacum Vetanorum, a crossing on the River Ribble
where several Roman roads. It
was last visited by the Society in 1999. Our tour will be led by a
Rachel Newman of Oxford Archaeology North. Ribchester is the home of
the only dedicated Roman Museum in Lancashire, which reopened in 2001
after being redeveloped with the aid of a Heritage Lottery Fund grant
(admission price £3.00).
In
the afternoon we will have
a guided tour of Clitheroe Castle, one of the smallest Norman keeps
in the country, famous as the site where the Pendle Witches were
imprisoned. The castle reopened in 2009 after the major repairs to
the keep and complete refurbishment of the museum (admission £4.65).
Terrain:
grassy or muddy in the morning. Some steep steps in the afternoon.
Saturday
16th
July Poulton Excavations and other sites around Chester
This
trip takes in a multi-period site spanning 9000 years at Poulton; the
medieval market town of Holt; and a motte and bailey at Aldford.
After
an optional comfort stop at the Grosvenor Garden Centre, off the
B5445, we will have a guided tour of the excavations in progress at
Poulton
(last
visited by Merseyside Archaeological Society in August 2006). The
excavation was undertaken to find the remains of a Cistercian abbey.
Finds range from the Neolithic to the Romans, including a Bronze Age
henge.
We
will move onto Holt
for a picnic lunch, where there are public toilets and a pub, the
Ring of Bells (which does not serve food). In the afternoon,
members of Holt Local History Society will guide us round the ruins
of The Castle, begun in 1277; St Chad’s church, established around
the 1280s; and the 14th-century
sandstone bridge linking Holt with Farndon across the River Dee. If
time allows, we will pay a self-guided visit to an easily-accessible
example of a motte and bailey at Aldford.
Terrain:
some uneven ground, bare soil and grass, which could be muddy; also
paths, pavements and steps.
