SOUTH PENNINE ARCHAELOGY GROUP (SPAG)

THE 13 SPAG members who met on a lovely summer’s evening in Irwell Vale had been promised a short walk which would include a magnificent railway viaduct; the oldest house in Rossendale; industrial archaeology; the remains of Lumb dye works; geology; a Site of Special Scientific Interest; a First World War bomb crater... and more!

Now that’s a lot to live up to but we were not disappointed, so thank you to our hosts, Alan and Rose Heyworth.

We started in the courtyard of Lumb Hall, which still retains its original cruck beams and dates back to the 14th century.

Walking on, we passed under the recently restored Helmshore viaduct constructed in 1846 by the East Lancashire Railway.

Diverting to a recently restored pond we were shown a soil core from its base, the bottom 15cms of which was peat, radiocarbon dated to 13,500 years ago, pre-dating the last two ice ages!

Continuing along the track to the Lumb Dye Works vat store (now a house in a delightful setting) we were shown where a huge copper vat had once stood and next to it a huge single stone slab used for who knows what.

Pausing for a break, Alan showed us 350 million-year-old fossils found in a nearby Site of Scientific Interest (SSI).

Our next stop was a small crater caused by a bomb dropped from a Zeppelin airship in September 1916, in the midst of the First World War.

Finally, standing on a narrow path with a broad grass ledge in front of us, Alan showed us two stones that had obviously been rounded in a river or stream but had then been flatted on one side by a glacier rubbing across them.

All agreed that this was a truly outstanding couple of hours.

So if you’d like to join us on future events, please email roger@ digspag.org.uk or visit our website.