Hampson Green Site

wyrearchaeology · **Posted:** Sun Sep 27, 2009 6:57 am

Mark,

You're more than welcome to join us at the next W.A. meet.

Can't remember the date, off-hand, but it'll be the usual third Wednesday of the month, I'm sure.

Mark · **Joined:** Wed Sep 23, 2009 3:09 pm **Posts:** 32

Ok, here are the co-ordinates as promised. I have posted the Garstang ring on the Bowgreave derivation thread as it ties in nicley to that thread. If you have any trouble finding them just let me know and I will post a google earth link. I have lots of other sites to show you too for investigation, but I will show them when I have cleaned up the images.

Cheers!
Mark

Hampson Main Ring: 53'58'19.72" N
2'47'18.18" W

Hampson Roman Rd: 53'58"29.71" N
2'47'08.55" W

Hampson Farmstead: 53'58'25.10" N
2'47'38.13" W

Conder Green circle: 53'59'40'29" N
2'49'20'60" W

Mark · **Joined:** Wed Sep 23, 2009 3:09 pm **Posts:** 32

Hi Frank
Good luck with the aerial pics, I would love to come along but I' am tied up at work. Where do you fly from ? I' am ex-Westair and my father-in-law is the chief engineer there.
I have a big ask I know ! Does anyone know where I could buy/rent/borrow/steal/rob some geophys equipment ? (stop laughing) I would love to start mapping the area. I have been online to specialists etc to no avail. If it come with a crash course or qualified operator that could be handy too

I have no problem covering any costs. I have another large site on the hill just above road and main ring that looks roman. Its so faint that my normal means of filtering are not working very well. It seems to be a substantial building/s so a wall plan would give a great idea of what it is. I will get a pic and GPS up shortly.

Cheers!
Mark

wyrearchaeology · **Posted:** Tue Sep 29, 2009 7:17 pm

Mark,

Geophysics equipment is both massively expensive and difficult to get hold of. Even Wyre Archaeology has difficulty getting its hands on the stuff. (Note to self: I must find out where Danielle's got to recently.) You could always try the old method of gridding the site up with a dumpy and stadia staff, and then sticking a metal rod in the ground every metre to see if you hit anything.

frankjsmith · **Posted:** Mon Oct 05, 2009 10:57 pm

Mark,
Some shots of Conder from last Thursday, which show a quite a few features, but I'm not sure they are 'archaeological'.

wyrearchaeology · **Posted:** Tue Oct 06, 2009 8:45 am

Frank,

Excellent as always. Cheers for them.

I must admit, they have a look of dried up natural water courses and modern flood defence banks to me, but I could be wrong.

Mark · **Joined:** Wed Sep 23, 2009 3:09 pm **Posts:** 32

Great pics frank !
The pics show up the water channels put in for Thurnham mill really well. This is an old 19th century water mill on the bank of the Lancaster to Glasson canal. I believe the channels supplied the wheel and then ran into the canal. I think the circle feature sits on the edge of the old line of the river which was rediverted for the mill. The old channel looks as if its cut into the ring feature running around the ring and into the ditch that borders the site on the road side. Later on it apprears to cut across the centre of the ring and go around the raised circular lump offset to the centre of the ring. If there is anything there it may be being (have been) damaged by the runoff. This area regularly floods. The last big flood was in the late 90's. Enough to wash away static caravans from the local site so this damage may be fairly recent, also the damage (channel) does not appear on pics of the site from 2000 to 2007. The pic below is more toward the frequency that see the lumps under the top layer, although it was shot in 2007. I will go and have a poke around on Wednesday, perhaps a quick dig. Any suggestions as to the best position to "carefully poke" to get some kind of ID of the site without causing further damage ? It would be nice to confirm its status one way or the other. Any suggestions of how to go about this will be gratefully received, or considering I'am totally new to physical archaeology would it be better if I kept my clumsy paws off untill someone with a bit of experience can help?

Mark · **Joined:** Wed Sep 23, 2009 3:09 pm **Posts:** 32

A few more pics from early 2000 and 2 from the mid 1960's. It appears that the ploughing runs upto but not into the ring. I think the jury is still out on this one. Lots of other lines and features though show up.

Mark · **Joined:** Wed Sep 23, 2009 3:09 pm **Posts:** 32

last one

Mark · **Joined:** Wed Sep 23, 2009 3:09 pm **Posts:** 32

Its interesting to note that on picture 3 & 4 the inner complete edge of the ring is perfectly round (man made) in appearance. Although this could also mean a man made drainage ditch.

wyrearchaeology · **Posted:** Tue Oct 06, 2009 4:04 pm

Mark,

A simple walk-through of the site, with photographs, of course, (along with a few measurements courtesy of a resistance meter), followed by a close contour survey would be the best bet...although, if I suggested the latter to Chris at the moment he'd just go on a four hour rant about how many thousands of square miles we're already booked up to survey and how we wouldn't be able to get around to conducting said survey until at least 2056.

And he'd be right, of course...we could seriously do with one of those laser guided three-dimensional plotters...and a couple of hundred thousand quid to buy it with.

frankjsmith · **Posted:** Tue Oct 06, 2009 10:00 pm

A few shots from the Hampson area.

wyrearchaeology · **Posted:** Wed Oct 07, 2009 8:28 am

Hmm...a few intriguing lines there. Remains of a coaxial field system perhaps? Evidences of Romano/British farming? Or possibly just something the water board's put in? There are definitely possibilities, that's all I can say...

The Fylde & Wyre Antiquarian

Hampson Green Site

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