Watershed Landscape Project Wins National Award!

The Watershed Landscape Project has won the UK Landscape Award!

Natural Environment Minister Richard Benyon said "I am delighted that the South Pennine Watershed Landscape Project has won this award. It is a project with wide-ranging impact, a powerful expression of local identity and sense of place and is testament of the hard-work of the people who have played their part in the formation of this distinct landscape."

This is a great achievement and a testament to all the hard work of the project volunteers. A huge hank you to everyone!

Lottery Awards

The Watershed Landscape Project were runners up in the National Lottery Awards 2012. Thank you to everyone who voted for us - we were pipped to the post by only 58 votes!

National Lottery Award Finalist!

The Watershed Landscape Project has made it through to the National Lottery Awards (Environment Category). Thank you to everyone who voted in the last round - we now need your vote again!

Click here to go to the Awards website and cast your vote for this great Project.

Keighley Heritage Day - 8th September

The Oxenhope survey team will be presenting some of the results of their survey work on Nab Hill at the Keighley Heritage Day on the 8th September.

Keighley Local History Library, 10:00-16:00

Photographic Recording Project

The Watershed Landscape Project has just launched a project with the aim of recording the many and varied archaeological and historical features across the South Pennine uplands. The project is operating through the Geograph website, which means that the uploaded photographs are georeferenced and can be searched using a placename or grid reference (you need the grid reference of the feature in order to upload your photograph). More information can be found on the Watershed Landscape website.

Judd Walls, Nab Hill, Oxenhope



Blue skies!

Duncan Boud (left) and Will Varley (right) surveying the quarry features

The recent burst of sunshine has certainly been very welcome to all of the survey projects. Work at Nab Hill has progressed well, with a core team of volunteers completing the plan of the quarry. Work has now started on producung a photographic record of the site, and mapping the associated tip deposits.

Let's hope for more good weather!

Model aircraft aids survey



Team members measuring one of the many depressions

Survey work is progressing well on Todmorden Moor. The Todmorden Moor Restoration Trust have been carrying out a landscape survey focusing on the identification of the many mining features across the moor. They are measuring and describing the features, and recording their location using hand-held GPS units. They are also using aerial photographs taken from a model aircraft by a member of the team. These photographs enable the team to look at the large area of moorland and target their investigations. It also helps in identifying features on the ground.

Team member Ian Lever taking aerial photographs
of a water diversion feature



Seeing below the moor



MSc student Ron Organ (right) with Malcolm Leyland (left) and Eddie Nash (centre)

Earlier this week, a small team of volunteers gathered in the Low Plain area of Baildon Moor with the hope of investigating the below ground mining remains. They met with Ron Organ who is currently undertaking research as part of his MSc in Archaeological Prospection at the University of Bradford. He is investigating the mining extraction features on Baildon Moor using Electrical Resistive Tomography. The circular depressions that are prevalent across the moor are anecdotally referred to as ‘bell pits’, however, it is likely that they represent shafts, some ventilation, others for getting the coal out. Ron hopes to be able to see if the shafts, or groups of shafts are linked by underground galleries, if some are bell pits, and perhaps to determine the depth of the shafts which would indicate the coal seam being worked.

Quarry survey update

 

Chris Mace planning the extent of the quarry using tapes and offsets

The team recording the quarry at Nab Hill have made great progress, despite the weather! Historical research is augmenting the survey.

Further updates will appear shortly.

Watershed Landscape Project Reaches Semi-finals of National Lottery Awards!

The Watershed Landscape Project has reached the semi-finals of the National Lottery Awards (environmental category). This is really very exciting and it is a great acknowledgement of the enthusiasm and commitment of the many volunteers working across the project. To see what the whole project has been up to, please visit the project website 

Please vote for us and help us make it to the finals!

You can vote online here or by 'phone on 0844 836 9699 (voting ends at midnight on 22^nd July).

New guidance sheet available to download!

New guidance sheet on using handheld GPS units available to download from the Watershed Landscape website.

West Yorkshire Heritage Forum Meeting

The next meeting of the West Yorkshire Heritage Forum (WYHF) will be hosted jointly by Pennine Heritage and Watershed Landscape Project at the Birchcliffe Centre in Hebden Bridge on Saturday 30th June.

The programme includes a series of short presentations in the morning on various aspects of South Pennines heritage, followed by an opportunity to visit the archives and to take a guided stroll around historic Hebden Bridge in the afternoon.

Visit the WYHF for further details and for news about other projects and events throughout the area.

South Pennines Archaeology on Facebook

A page devoted to the archaeology of the South Pennines is now on Facebook. Please pop along to the page and 'like' it!

Please feel free to post about the survey work that you are doing, and upload photos and videos.

Survey resources available online

'Guidance Sheets' outlining the methodologies employed on the Riches of the Earth project have been uploaded to the Watershed Landscape website (click here). A list of the available resources appears on the 'Volunteer info.' page of the RotE blog.

Work gets underway on Todmorden Moor

Circular depression with surrounding bank - Mine shaft

A team from Todmorden Moor Restoration Trust have started recording features by fieldwalking in 100x100m grids, using the Google Earth methodology developed by by members of the CSI: Rombalds Moor project.

Todmorden Moor is a landsape full of 'lumps and bumps' representing activity over a long time scale. The team are mapping all the features that they see and will be recording a representative selection of the features relating to the mining activities in more detail later in the year.