Barnsley Museum Autumn Events

Find out about exhibitions and events across Barnsley's museums.

http://www.experience-barnsley.com/content/downloads/BM-Autumn-Guide-2016-09502732.pdf

Excavation Report for 2014

Read all about the finds we made during the 2014 archaeology season. We excavated 41 test pits in gardens and school grounds during the year.

Download the report (You will need the free Adobe Reader to view).

The excavation of a series of test pits across St Helen’s Ward during 2014 has revealed evidence of settlement from the early Medieval right through until the Modern periods. In 2014, test pits were selected to target known archaeological sites such as the water and paper mills at Smithies, abandoned cottages also at Smithies, and a farmstead off Laithes Lane, Athersley North. Our test pits were able to be dated from the recovery and specialist assessment of the pottery, clay pipes, glass, animal bones, metalwork and industrial residues (iron and glass slags). A myriad of finds were revealed the earliest was the rim of a jar or cooking vessel (mid C11th- mid C13th), a commemorative glazed plate to large granite millstones which dated to the 19th century. 

Finds deposited at Experience Barnsley

The finds, photos and reports from the project have been deposited at Barnsley Museum. They will be stored here for future generations to research as part of the archaeological archive of Barnsley.

Fieldwork Finishes

Archaeological fieldwork on the Hands on History project has now ended. We thank all volunteers, garden owners and schools who have been involved in the project since 2013.

Over the next few months, we will publish news of a free booklet, which finds will be displayed in Experience Barnsley and our talk at South Yorkshire Archaeology Day.

Fieldwalking Report 2015

Here is the report on the field walking. We looked for pottery and other finds in the area where the crop mark of a possible enclosure was identified.

Download the report.

The enclosure probably survives as a series of filled-in ditches below ground. There is no evidence for it on the ground surface.

Fieldwalking was conduced over two days in February 2015. Four volunteers under the supervision of Bill Bevan walked over part of the geophysics transect laid out by GSB Prospection to investigate a cropmark identified on aerial photographs in this area (see illustration 1).

The archaeological aim of fieldwalking was to look for artefacts that may date and interpret the features identified by the geophysics survey. The community training aim was to train and give practical experience in fieldwalking and recording techniues to Hands on History volunteers.

The overwhelming majority of the pottery was 19^th to 20^th century in date. There were some sherds of 18^th and early 19^th century pottery along with very small quantities of medieval and early post-medieval wares. These are described in the following pottery report. The quantities and distribution of earlier pottery does not help interpret the identified sub-soil features. The vast amounts of late 19^th/early 20^th century pottery suggests a specific series of events such as dumping or manuring from middens during this short period.

Back to School

It is that time of year again! The summer is almost over and the kids are going back to school. So are we!

During September and October we will be at Athersley North, Athersley South and Laithes Academy. About 180 pupils will find out about how archaeologists discover things, have a go at digging a test pit, discover the stories about their finds then do some creative writing about those stories. Look out for the results later.

2015 Test Pits

We have excavated a couple of test pits following interest from the gala. We didn't find much in them but all those who took part enjoyed the day.