Feature Dig: Monday 12 July and Tuesday 13 July

10am onwards. 

The event is free thanks to our Heritage Lottery Fund grant .New members are welcome any time, whether you wish to come along and dig with us on Tuesdays on a regular or occasional basis, or to simply keep in touch.  We are always happy to receive invitations to give talks and presentations. Gillian Hovell,  Iron Age (Nidderdale) Project

Gillian writes of the previous 2 day dig undertaken in May 2010 :

“May began with a two-day Big Dig that re-visited the Triple Furnaces feature.  We'd been here before, last autumn, under professional archaeologist Kev Cale's supervision and we were delighted to have Kev back with us as we reopened the trench.  The three original grassy hollows are now three large structures - who'd have thought all that was under the grass.  The surprise has been that each of the three features are distinctly different from each other.  One had a fantastic burnt crisp base within it, the middle one had a different feel entirely being untouched by any real signs of burning.  The third seemed to have had more than one life? Some intriguing shale and even some possible baked clay lingered within it and a 'false base' of stones hid a thick blackened coating above a wonderful orange-red base layer.  A wonderful white crumbly edging crept up this base up the south side of the furnace.

Finds were few and fragmentary - bits of coal (we were remarkably near the coal mines), scraps of charcoal, and what's probably clay lining.   But a real discovery was that all three features had been built with their bases deliberately dug into the hillside.    As ever, there is more work to be done in the future - we shall return!”  

Further information and to contact  Iron Age (Nidderdale) Project Click here